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«J/d 


HISTORY  OF  THE  AtTEM^ 


TO  BITABLISH  THS 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION 

IN  IRELAND, 


▲ND  THB 


SUCCESSFUL  RESISTANCE  OF  THAT  PEOPLE. 


(TIME:  1640-1880.) 


BY 


*/■>■ 


THOMAS   DARCY    M»GEE, 

ATTTHOB  OF  "  A  ICIBTOBT  OF  IBISH  BETTLEBS  IN  NOBTH  AMEBIOA  ; "  "  LITM 

OF  THE    IBISH    WBITBBS ;  "    "  LIFE    OF    ABT.  M'MX7BBOOH  ; " 

«  HISTOBICAL  SKETCHES  OF  O'CONNEIiL  AMD  HIS 

PBIENDS,"  ETC.,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"  For  they  will  deliver  you  up  in  councils, 

"A "    " 

muny 


Hr 


•^..- 


"  For  they  will  deliver  you  up  in  councils,'fgi«'tbeTwill  acourfByon  In  tbeirsynaaDgiiMi 
"  And  you  ahall  be  brought  before  govemMli^imd  beftm  kinn,  to  bht  nke,  bin  tMi 
Dny  to  them  and  to  the  Gentilei.**  —  Sk  M^ttHmyt :  Chap.  x.  vinm  CT,  18.       ^ 


■:£l 


BBOOHD    BDITION. 


BOSTON: 


r 


PUBLISHED    BY    PATRICK    DONAHOE, 

FRANKLIN    iTREET. 


1853.  ^ 

HOLY  REDEEMER  LIBRARY;  WiND$Olt 


fc\lL  ^ 


\\ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1852,  bj 
,j  PATRICK    DONAHOE, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Conrt  of  the  District  of  Massftohosetts. 


it-;';,'** 


^um 


■TBUOTTfaD  AT  fSB 

BoiTon  iTcaaOTTra  rovnoBT 


'  •'*  -~  /i- 


TO   TBB 


RT.  REV.  JOHN  BERNARD  FITZPATRICK,  D.D., 


«         THIRD  BISHOP  OF  BOSTON, 


AS  Alf  INADEQUATB  EXPRESSION  OF  PROFOUND  ESTEEM 

AND   VENERATION, 


0)1(8  l^olttme 


XI   TBBT  BBSPEOTrULLY  SBDIOATBB 


IT 


THE  AUTHOR 


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.*, 


CONTENTS. 


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,  /. 


Preface, ,    .    11 

CHAPTER    I. 

The  early  Irish  Chnrch  and  State.  —  The  Milesians.  —  Dmidism.— 
St.  Patrick.  —  The  Apostolic  Age.  —  The  Danish  Invasions.  —  Brkm 
at  Clontaril  —  St.  Malachi.  --  The  Normans  in  Ireland.  —  The  War 
of  Races.  —  Irish  Charch  in  the  Middle  Ages 19 

CHAPTER     II. 

Henry  YIII.  of  England  elected  King  of  Ireland. — Antecedents  of  this 
Election.  —  The  Clergy  not  consulted. —  The  Chiefs  canvassed  indi- 
vidually. —  After  the  Election.  -—  Apostate  Bishops.  —  Confiscation, 
Sacrilege,  and  Reformation 80 

CHAPTER    III. 

King  Edward  and  Queen  Mary. —  Cranmer's  Attempts  to  establish  the 
Reformation  in  Ireland.  —  The  first  Catholic  Insurrection. — Acces- 
sion of  Queen  Mary.  —  Catholic  Reaction.  —  Restoration  of  the 
Irish  Bishops.  —  Death  of  Queen  Mary.  —  State  of  Parties 46 

CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Irish  Catholi#Strength  at  the  Accession  of  Elizabeth. —  Test 
Oaths  enacted. — First  Catholic  Confederacy.  —  The  Insurrection  of 
1* 


6  CONTENTS.  / 

h 
the  Desmonds.  —  Confiscation  of  Munster.  —  The  First  Martyrs. — 
The  Ulster  Princes.  —  Second  Catholic  Confederation.  —  Alliance 
with  Spain.  —  Battle  of  Kinsale SB 

CHAPTER    V. 

Staarts  sncceed  to  the  Throne.  —  Endowment  of  Trinity  College.— 
Usher  and  O'Daniel.  —  Confiscation  of  Ulster.  —  "  Recusant "  Party. 
—  Charles  I.  —  A  new  Persecution.  —  Strafibrd's  Viceroyalty.  — 
Confiscation  of  Connaught.  —  The  School  of  Wards.  —  The  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant 85 

CHAPTER    VI.  -, 

The  Presbyterians  and  Puritans  in  Ireland. — Extermination  their 
Policy.  —  Ulster  Rising  of  1641.  —  New  Catholic  Confederacy 
founded  by  Rory   O'Moore.  —  Oath  of  Confederation. —  Generd    j^t 

*  Insurrection.  —  Catbblic  Legislation.  —  Peters  and  Jerome.  —  Owen 
Roe  O'Neil.  —  Ormond.  —  Cromwell  in  Ireland.  —  The  Puritan  Penal 
Laws.  —  Death  of  Cromwell. 99 

.  '/t        \ 

'■'"■■  [L   ■  "■..._,. 4_    '     '■     ** 

BOOK  II. 

*  CHAPTER    1.  ^    ' 

Bostoration  of  Charles  II.  — Act  of  Settlement.  —  Ormond's  Attempt 
to  Gralllcanize  the  Irish  Church.  —  Synod  of  1666. — Lord  Berkeley's 
Viceroyalty.  — The  New  Test  Act  — "The  Popish  Plot."  — Mar-  j| 
tyrdom  of  Primate  Plunkett.  —  Assassination  of  Count  Redmond 
O^Hanlon.    .    .    : 189'' 

CHAPTER    II.  ,    ^ 

Accession  of  James  n.  —  Talbot;  Lord  Deputy.  —  Irish  Soldiers  in  *^.^^ 
England.  —  Invasion  of  WUliam  III  —  Irish  Parliament  of  1686'.  —  ^^ 

;•■.-,■  ■    f. 

I--'  •        ."«■         ■'  .;'■-• 

B  .      '^'^.r/'    ■         ,  ■■,'  :. 


5.— 

irty. 

'»• 

r. — 

smn 

• 

85 

CUNTHNTSw  ,        .1  % 

**  No  Popery  "  Riots  in  London.  —  "  The  Irish  Night."  —  The  Wu 
in  Ireland.  —  Defeat  of  the  CathoUen       168 

CHAPTBR    III. 

Reign  of  William  JIL  —  Violation  of  the  Treaty  of  Limerick.  —  Pro- 
scription of  the  Bishops  and  Clergy.  —  Farther  Confiscations  of 
Catholic  Property .    •    *    .  165 

f 

CHAPTER    IV.  . 

Qaeen  Anne's  Reign.  —  "  Act  to  discourage  the  Growth  of  Fopeiy.** 
—  Su-  Toby  Butler  heard  at  the  Beit  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  — 
His  Argument.  —  Immense  Emigration.  —  Priest  Hunting.  — Pri- 
mate McMahon »  171 


CHi^PTBR    V. 

Irish  Catholics  abroad.  —  Irish  Colleges  at  Loamin,  Paris,  Boms^  Lis* 
bon,  &c.  —  Irish  Soldiers  in  Foreign  Service.  —  The  Irish  Brigade 
in  France.  —  How  their  Reputation  reacted  on  England.     .    .    .    .191 

t:?N^f' '-^^t-l  fi?^    .OHAPTBRVI. 

The  Jacobites  and  the  Irish  Catholics.  —  The  Staartf  eonioHed  «l     ^ 
Rome  on  the  Appointment  of  Irish  Bishops.— 'The  BappanWr— 
The  Wandering  Ministrels  and  "  Newsmen." 206 


BOOK   III. 


CHAPTER    I. 


»«»»;^ 


Irish  Parties  in  the  Reiga  of  George  IL — "  The  Patriots."  —  «  The       T 
Castle    Party."  —  Increase    of  tl)e    Catholics.  —  Establishment  .of 
Charter  Schoote.  —  Swift's  Portraits  of  the  Protestant  Prelat«k—- 
Battle  of  Colloden.— Change  of  Catholica'Taetics.    « i» 


«*,  - 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   II, 


U 


1 1 


State  of  Iraland  at  the  Accession  of  George  in.  —  Pablieations  on  the 
Catholic  Question.  —  The  Great  Famine.  —  Catholic  Committees 
for  petitioning  Parliamentw—  Proposed  Relief  Bill  of  1 763. — Ramored 
French  InTasion.  —  Agrarianism.  —  Martyrdom  of  Father  Nicholas 
Sheehy  and  his  Friends.  —  Spread  of  Secret  Societies.  —  The  Meth* 
odists  in  Ireland S89 


M 


CHAPTER    III. 

Second  Catholic  Committee  formed. — ^.Concessions  in  1774  and  1778. 
—  Secession  of  "  Lord  Eenmare  and  the  Sixty-Eight."  —  John 
Keogh,  Leader  of  the  Catholics.  —  Mianagement  of  the  Committee.  — 
Cooperation  of  Edmnnd  Burke.  —  General  Discussion  of  Catholic 
Principles  in  Ireland  and  England.  —  Arthur  O'Leary.  —  Burlte  and 
Tone. — London  Riots  of  1780. -r  Irish  Catholic  Convention  elected. 
.—  Their  Delegates  presented  to  George  IIL,  and  demand  Total 
Emancipation.— Relief  Bill  of  1793.— -Political  Reaction.     .    .    . 


844 


CHAPTER    IV. 


:UX:-^,.ff>m^m 


ICaynooth  College  founded.  —  Union  of  Defenders  and  United  Irish* 
men.  •— Insurrection  of  1798. —  Falsehoods  concerning  Catholics 
engaged  in  it  —  Proposed  Legislative  Union. — Pitt  and  the  Bish* 
ops.  — The  Act  of  Union;  its  Results  on  the  Catholic  Cause.  .    .    .  278 


CHAPTER    V. 

Catholic  Question  in  the  Imperial  Parliament.- Pitt —Fox.  —  Gren- 
fille.  —  Catholic  Committee  of  1805. — Its  Dissolution.  —  Catholic 
Board  formed.  —  Veto  Controversy.  —  Dissolution  of  the  Board.  — 
Lethargy  of  the  Catholics.  —  State  of  Ireland,  A.  D.  1820.   ....  290 


CHAPTER    VI.  v^^: 

"^it  of  George  IV.  to  Ireland.  — The  Catholic  Question  in  Parlia- 
ment-^  Formation  of  the  Catholic  Association.  —  Its  Progress  and 
Power.  —  The  Catholics  before  Parliament  in  Person. — Foreign 
Sympathy;  A^d'from  the  Irish  in  America.  —  The  "  Second  Refor- 


'■d 


.  ♦ 

I 

'  CONTENTS.  9 

mation."  —  Gknenl  Catholic  Controrersy.  —  Adrocatei  of  Emuid- 
pation  at  the  Freu.  —  Election  of  O'Connell  to  Parliament — Belief 
Bill  of  1829.  — Belationi  of  the  Church  and  "the  Eetabliihment,** 
A.  D.  1830.—  Condniion 811 

APPENDIX. 

L  The  aril  and  Military  Artidea  of  Limerick, 848 

n.  The  Iriih  Lords*  Protest  against  the  Act  '*  to  confirm  the  Arti> 

des  of  Limerick,"  A.  D.  1703, 858 

nX  Petition  and  List  of  Delegates  of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  .    .  854 

rV.  The  Pope's  Letter  on  the  Salrject  of  the  Veto, 8f.3 

y.  Carey's  Analysis  of  the  Alleged  Massacre  of  1641,    ....  871 

YL  List  of  Abbeys,  ftc,  in  Lreland,  oonflscated,  . .     ......  877 


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i^»r^  PRE  FACE. 


>.«. 


Every  sect  of  reformers  known  in  the  British  empire 
has  attempted  to  proprgiite  itself  in  Lreland,  and  has 
failed.  The  Anglican  church  is  as  far  from  the  hearts 
of  that  people  as  ever ;  the  Presbyterian  denomination 
has  hardly  retained  the  natural  increase  of  its  Scottish 
founders.  In  Ulster  it  still  flourishes ;  but  we  must 
remember  that  it  was  transplanted  in  its  maturity  to 
that  confiscated  soil.  It  did  not  grow  there ;  it  has  not 
spread  beyond  that  privileged  and  exclusive  province. 

The  Independents,  planted  by  Cromwell;  the  Qua- 
kers, introduced  by  Penn ;  the  Lutherans,  endowed  by 
William;  tl*e  Huguenots,  patronized  by  Anne  and  the 
Georges ;  the  Methodists,  organized  by  the  Wesleys  and 
Whiliield  —  all  have  been  tried  in  Irish  soil,  and  all 
have  failed. 

In  Ireland,  the  crown  has  been  for  Protestantism ;  the 
legislature,  the  only  university,  the  army  and  navy,  all 
civil  offices  until,  as  it  were,  yesterday,  have  been  re- 
served for  the  support  of  "  the  Protestant  interest."  Not 
only  all  the  privileges  and  all  the  forces  have  been  on 
that  side,  but  even  sacred  rights,  —  such  as  freedom  of 
worship,  of  education,  and  of  proprietorship, —until  the 


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dose  of  the  last  century,  have  been  all  denied  by  law  to 
the  Catholics.  Protestantism  had. every  thing  its  own 
•^ay  —  th6  eiQwn,  the  laws,  the  taxes,  forces,  schools, 
estates,  and  churches.  By  every  human  calculation,  the 
victory  would  be  declared  to  the  strong.  Yet  it  is  quite 
otherwise  in  this  instance. 

How  a  poor  and  insulated  peasantjry  could  have  kept 
their  ancient  faith,  against  such  odds,  for  three  hundred 

^  years,  is  matter  of  wonder  to  those  who  are  not  Cath- 

'Olics.     To  those  who  are,  it  is  a  source  of  inquiry  and 

reflection  full  of  edification  and  encouragement.   A  book 

^  in  which  the  facts  of  this  contest  would  be  set  down 
briefly  and  ihtelligibiy  has  long  been  wanted.  Thirty 
years  icgo,  Charles  Butler  considered  it  <Hhe  great  literary 
desideratum  '^  in  our  language ;  and  a  desideratum  it  has 
riemained. 

If  it  is  important  to  have,  such  a  book  published,  it  is 
very  difficult  to  compile  it,  even  in  summary  style.  In 
Ireland,  this  must  have  beefi  felt,  where  so  many  able 
Catholic  writers  feave  declined  itj  either  from  the  great- 
ness of  the  labor  or  the  incompleteness  of  the  authori- 
Hes.  In  America,  far  removed  from  all  who  have  made 
any  portion  of  the  subject  their  special  study,  with  such 
autlidrities  as  are  to  be  had  or  imported  here,  I  have 
found  the  work  very  arduous  indeed.  For  some  facts  I 
have  had  chiefly  to  rely  on  a  large  collection  of  manu- 
script notes,  made  partly  in  Dublin  libraries  and  partly 
in  that  of  !;he  British  Museum  in  the  years  1846  and 
1847.  ' 

The  meimoirs  on  which  I  have  chiefly  replied  are  of 
three  classics :  — 

T.  Cbntemporary  Catholic  mgrratives  of  the  sixteenth, 
seventeenth,  and  eighteenth  Cfsnturies — such  as  ^The 


a^ 


PREFACB. 


w 


Four  Mabt'  ,"  Bishop  O'Daly's  Histories,  0'Sullivi^n'8| 
Bishop  French's  Tracts,  the  Jacobite  Pamphlets  aiid 
Memoirs,  Hibemia  Dominicana,  and  Fftl^ei^  O'Leaiyfa 
Letters. 

II.  Publications  on  the  Penal  Code  and  Catholic 
Relief  Bills  during  the  period  of  agitation ;  Curry's  Civil 
Wars ;  Burke's  Letters  and  Speeches ;  ©'Conor's  Pam- 
phlets; Brookes's  Letters;  Scully'ef  Digest  of  the  Penal 
Laws ;  William  Pamell's  Apology  for.  the  Irish  Catho^ 
lies;  Sir  Henry  Pamell's  History  of  the  Penal  Laws; 
Petitions  and  Reports  of  the  successive  Cathblia  Com- 
mittees; the  Debates  in  the  Irish  and  i^nglish  Parlia- 
ments ;  and  the  Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  both^ 
governments  as  far  as  it  r<elates  to  Ireland. 

III.  County  and  City  Histories  —  such  mt,  those  of 
Dublin,  Armagh,  Belfast,  Cork,  Limerjycky  an^  Gftlway  ;- 
Biographies  of  the  chief  actors  fotv9|}4,  s^inst  th^: 
church  —  Henry  VIIl.,  Usher,  Strafford,  Ormond,  Croror 
well,  Clarendon,  Walpole,  Chesterfield,  George  IJL,  Pitl;i_ 
and  Castlereagh,  of  the  Protestant  side ;  I^ugh  O'Neil, 
Bishop  French,  Primate  Plunkett,  Jaipes  IL,  Patrick. 
Sarsfield,  Charles  O' Conor,  Edmund  Burke,  H^nry, 
Grattan,  Wolfe  Tone,  John  Keogh,  Bishop  Doyle,  {^id, 
Daniel  O'Connell,  of  the  Catholic  side. 

,From  these  authorities  I  have  endeavored,  to  (KKtract^ 
all  the  essential  facts  in  relati6n  to  "  th^  l^forixuitioa'*, 
in  Ireland.  , 

I  am  deeply  sensible,  after  all  the  care  and  time  I. 
could  bestow  on  it,  how  far  the  work  is  from  what  it, 
might  be  made  in  abler  hands.  Yet  even  as  a  sabstitpt|9, 
for  a  bet^r,  it  is.  well  it  should  go  forth.  Ons;  l^^df,  the 
Irish  race  are  in  America,  and  need  to  have  ik^.  His* 
tory  by  them.    If  not  in  this  way,  in  what  other  shall 


■-»»■:; 


14 


PREFACE. 


they  be  shown  the  cost  at  which  our  fathers  purchased 
that  *<  pearl  beyond  price,"  the  religion  which,  through 
the  grace  of  God,  we  still  retain  ?  Here  are  no  wayside 
crosses  or  empty  belfries,  no  Cromwellian  breaches,  no 
soil  fruitful  of  traditions,  to  keep  alive  in  their  souls  the 
story  of  their  heroic  and  orthodox  ancestors.  For  the 
monuments  and  memorials  that  abound  in  Erin,  this 
little  book  is  the  only  substitute  I  can  offer  them.  It 
will  be,  I  trust,  an  acceptable  offering  to  those  for  whom 
it  is  chiefly  intended.  '   „ 

This  book  I  call  «A  History  of  the  Attempts"  to 
establish  the  <<  Reformation "  in  Ireland,  because  it  re- 
lates ^ch  attempt  and  failure.  The  variety  and  energy 
of  these  efforts  may  be  well  imagined  from  an  abstract. 

L  Attempts  under  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VL  to 
intimidate  the  existing  hierarchy,  by  punishing  as  trea- 
son the  refusal  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy;  the  con- 
fiscation of  religious  possessions,  and  the  war  upon  the 
shrines,  schools,  and  relics  of  the  saiqts. 

IL  Attempts  under  Elizabeth,  by  armies  and  whole- 
sale confiscations,  as  in  the  case  of  Desmond ;  by  the 
endowment  of  Trinity  College,  and  the  theory  of  Usher, 
thal^he  early  Irish  church  was  Protestant. 

IIL  Attempt  of  James  L,  by  colonizing  Ulster  with 
Presb]^rians,  the'act  of  ^conformity,  and  the  exclusion 
of  Catholics  from  the  Irish  parliament. 

IV.  Attempt  under  Charles  L,  by  ordering  all. priests 
and  Jesuits  to  leave  the  kingdom;  by  the  commission 
for  inquiring  into  defective  titles;  by  the  enlargement 
of  the  school  of  king's  wards. 

V.  Attempts  of  the  Puritans,  by  the  solemti  league 
and  covenant ;  by  the  Anglo-Scotch  invasion ;  by  trans- 


PREFACE. 


15 


portation  to  Barbadoes;  by  mavtial  law;  by  the  impor- 
tation of  Independents,  Brownists,  Anabaptists,  &c. 

VI.  Attempt  under  Charles  II.,  by  the  act  of  settle- 
ment, and  swearing  Ireland  into  **  the  Popish  plot" 
'  VII.  Attempts  under  William  and  Anne,  by  banish- 
ing the  Catholic  soldiery,  and  colonizing  German  Prot- 
estants ;  by  violating  the  treaty  of  Limerick ;  by  en- 
larging the  penal  laws  into  a  complete  code. 

VIII.  Attempts  under  the  present  dynasty,  by  state 
schools  and  a  system  of  proselytism,  to  effect  what 
confiscation,  war,  and  controversy  failed  to  effect  in 
earlier  times. 

The  work  closes  at  the  year  of  our  Lord  1830.  It 
might  have  been  continued  down  to  the  present  time, 
when  we  find  new  penal  enactments  added  to  the  stat- 
utes of  Westminster,  new  proselytizing  societies  rangiogf 
through  Ireland,  a  successor  of  St  Patrick  assailed  with 
all  the  forces  of  British  diplomacy,  and  a  Catholic  De- 
fence Association  sitting  in  Dublin.  But  remembering 
the  advice  of  Ecclesiasticus,  <*  Judge  no  man  while  he 
is  living,"  the  narrative  closes  at  1830. 

Ambkican  Cslt  OrricB, 
B^ffhIo,  1853. 


# 


•  I 


e: 


\ 


M. 


BOOK  I. 


A.   D.  1540    TO    1660. 


FROM  THB 


ELECTION  OF  HENRY  VIII.,  AS  KING  OF  IRELAND, 


UNTIL  THB 


DEATH  OF  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 


i<^:: 


-.J^^ 


#- 


IT' 


# 


CHAPTER    I. 


THE  EABLT  IBISH  CHUBCH  AND  8TATB.— THE  MILESIANS — DBUID 
ISIL— ST.  PATBICK.— THE  AFOSTOUC  AQE.  — THE  DANISH  INVA- 
SIONS  BRIAN    AT   CLONTABF — ST.    MALACHL— THE  NOBMA^ft 

IN   IRELAND THE  WAR  OF   RACES — IRISH   CHURCH  IN  KBJB 


i^.-'&r 


MIDDLE  AGES. 


The  history  of  Ireland  is  as  stormy  as  its  sitaal 
The  pier  of  Western  Europe,  she  braves  the  Atlantic) 
and  supports  the  furious  violence  of  its  winds  and  waves, 
She  has  been  wasted  for  the  weal  of  Christendom  ;  and 
as  yet,  Christendom  has  not  studied,  according  to  con- 
science, to  do  justice  to  the  history  of  her  western  siafe- 
guard — a  history  which  is  full  of  suffering,  of  aevotion, 
of  miracles,  and  of  good  fruits,  ripening  through  tnau^y  ' 
ages,  and  scattered  throughout  the  world. 

Ireland  has  been  mainly  influenced  by  three  natural 
causes.  Her  insular  situation  has  made  ^er  a  spectator, 
rather  than  a  party  tc^  European  combinations .  for  polit- 
ical purposes ;  while  Europe  was  inflamed,  Irelano  was 
rendered  cool  by  the  fearful  spectacle  of  another's  pas- 
sion ;  her  story  has  been  a  standing  mirror  and  com- 
ment on  contmental  history.  Peopled  by  an  Asiatic 
tribe,  deriving,  through  Spain,  the  character  of  the  Scotii, 
or  Alilesians,  has  been  the  second  remarkable  iiiAuence 
in  her  destiny.  Prom  them  the  mixed  race,  called  Lish, 
derive  their  Oriental  imagination  and  idealifm;  they 
never  were,  and  never  can  be,  materialists ;  thwr  habits, 
tra)ditio|is,.  standards,  are  all  Asiatic.  Unlike  the  other 
nor^ern  and  western  nations,  they  did  not  cross  the  con- 
tinent, gathering  an  alloy  by  the  way ;  their  galleys  shot 
from  the  shore  of  Spain,  and  their  Chaldean  craft  led 
them  to  that  remote  island,  where  i|i^  drew  their  boftts 
on  shore,  and  planted  their  banners.  The  relation  of  Ir^ 
land  and  Britain  is  the  third  influence,  w£iich  penetrafiii^ 


Al*»v*.-  ■«**.(»'  -.JWa*--* 


ttmmm. 


20 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


the  history  of  this  people,  especially  in  the  modern 
period. 

The  growth  of  a  Christian  church  and  state  in  t^ 
Island  of  the  Scotii  affords  a  highly-interesting  subject 
to  the  student  of  national  life  and  character.  It  is 
necessary  to  indicate  here  the  facts  of  that  general  con- 
version. 

"We  know  the  Druidical  form  of  paganism  to  have 
been  a  refined  and  elaborate  system.  Of  all  the  false 
systems  known  to  us,  it  approached  nearest  to  the  Greek 
mythology.  The  elements  were  deified,  and  the  hours 
and  seasons  dedicated  to  their  appropriate  gods.  The 
crystal  wells  were  worshipped  as  the  abodes  of  pure 
spirits  ;  a  future  state  of  being  was  believed  to  exist, 
under  the  western  waves,  where  the  JHetTia  tCoge^  or  Lord 
of  the  Ever-Youn*^,,  dwelt,  and  with  him  heroes,  in  end- 
less enjoyment.  Through  the  island  there  were  sacred 
groV^Bs,  dedicated  with  mysterious  rites,  and  guarded 
bV  severe  penalties  from  profanation.  Certain  trees  and 
plants,  as  the  oak,  the  ash,  elm,  and  hazel,  were  held 
sacred;  the  mistletoe  and  vervain  were  gathered  un- 
der .certain  planetary  auspices,  according  to  a  pre- 
scribed ceremonial.  The  winds  and  stars  were  deities, 
solemnly  invokfed  and  sworn  by.  Crom  was  the  Jupiter, 
Briga,  or  '  Bridget,  the  Muse,  and  Mananan  McLir  (son 
of  the  sea)  the  Neptune  of  the  Celtic  system.*  Of 
their  ceremonies  and  sacrifices  we  know  nothing  that  is 
certain.  Annually  they  had  two  great  religious  festivals, 
at  spring  time  and  in  harvest.  Their  ritual  was  preserved 
in  obscure  rhymes,  their  hierarchy  an  hereditary  order,  at 
once  poets,  judges  of  the  civil  law,  and  priests.     They 


\'^x 


*^'.. 


0: 


*  Crom,  the  thunderer,  or  fire  god,  is  a  well-known  character  to  Irish 
readers.  The  Druid's  altars,  thronghout  Ireland,  are  still  called  Crom- 
leaches,  or  Crom's  stones.  'In  the  "  glossary"  of  Cormac,  Archbishop  of 
Cashel,  (a  work  of  the  tenth  century,)  there  is  this  Cluistian-like  ao- 
couut  of  the  son  of  Lir :  *'  Mananan  McLir  was  a  famous  merchant  that 
lived  in  the  Isle  of  Manan.  He  was  the  best  navigator  that  lived  in  the 
sea  in  the  -West  of  the  world.  He  used  to  ascertain  by  heaven-study, 
that  is,  observation  of  the  heavens,  the  duration  of  calm  .^d  storm,  and 
the  duration  of  either  of  these  two  periods."  Quoted  in^'Appendix  to 
the  Irish  version,  of  Nennius.  Dublin :  Aroheeological  Society's  Publica- 
tions, 1848. 


PROTESTANT   REFORMATION    IN   IRELAND. 


21 


somewhat  resembled  the  Egyptian  priesthood ;  they  had 
separate  estates,  dedicated  to  their  maintenance.  Many 
sood  and  wise  pagan  princes  had  obeyed  and  upheld 
this  system.  Tighernmass  innovated  upon  its  early  sim- 
plicity, for  he  was  the  first  to  introduce  idols ;  Tuath'al, 
who  was  known  to  Agricola  and  Tacitus,  restored  dis- 
cipline, and,  perhaps,  added  something  of  the  formulas 
he  had  learned  during  his  long  exile  in  Britain  and 
Rome.     The  Druidical  families  were  a  powerful  party. 

The  numbers  and  energy  of  the  islanders,  even  in 
those  early  ages,  were  remarkable.  They  had  colonized  ^^ 
the  Isle  of  Man  in  the  third  century.  In  the  fourth, 
they  had  given  a  colony  to  Scotland,  which  afterwards 
consolidated  and  ruled  that  kingdom ;  in  the  fifth,  they 
had  effected  settlements  in  Anglesea  and  Wales,  from 
which,  after  twenty-nine  years'  possession,  they  wete 
forcibly  expelled  by  Cassawallawn,  the  long-h{Uti40d> 
famous  in  Welsh  history.  About  the  same  tim^^  ^ 
extended  their  expeditions  into  Gaul,  their  path 
made  clear  through  Britain  by  the  withdrawal  of 
Roman  legions  for  the  defence  of  the  empire.  In  406, 
Nial  of  the  hostages  perished  in  the  Loire ;  and  in  430, 
Dathi,  his  successor,  died  near  Sales,  in  Piedmont. 
Their  habitual  route  was  from  Chester  to  Dover,  along 
the  Gwyddelinsarn,  or  "  road  of  the  Irish,"  which^  long 
after,  became  King  Alfred's  boundary  between  the  Danes 
and  Saxons,  in  Britain. 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  431,  Pope  Celestine  sent  to 
Ireland  St  Patrick.  That  wise  and  holy  bishop  knew 
well  the  people  he .  had  to  teach  and  baptize.  He 
adopted  all  their  natm;al  rites,  which  were  in  themselves 
innocent.  He  blessed  .their  worshipped  wells ;  he  per- 
mitted their  spring  and  autumn  festivals,  but  converted 
them  to  the  honor  of  the  saints ;  he  followed  in  his 
ecclesiastical  arrangements  thj^  civil  divisions  of  the  isl- 
and ;  he  destroyed  the  ceremonMi,  but  retained  the  his- 
torical writings  of  the  Druids.  He  made  seven  circuits 
of  the  island,  the  first  six  on  foot,  and  is  said  to  have 
ordained  three  hundred  b|ishops  and  seven  thousand 
priests.     The  poet  with  hia  harp,  and  the  prince  with 


'»^y 


22 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH    THE 


w 


his  power,  he  enlisted ;  he  called,  with  supernatural  in- 
sight, his  apostles  from  all  orders  of  people  —  the  con- 
verted Druid,  the  peasant  from  the  plough,  the  smith 
from  the  forge,  and  the  fisherman  from  his  boat;  he 
found  a  vocation  and  a  place  for  all.  He  died  towards 
the  close  of  the  centurv,  (A.  D.  493,)  leaving  Christianity 
in  all  the  high  and  lowly  places  of  Erin ;  having  seen 
paganism,  if  not  entirely  destroyed,  mortally  w6unded, 
and  driven  into  solitary  places,  where  yet  a  while  it  con- 
spired in  vain  for  restoration. 

The  three  centuries  following  St.  Patrick's  death  make 
the  golden  age  of  the  Irish  church.  The  spiritual-  order 
was  exalted  to  an  uncommon  degree  —  exempted  from 
taxes  and  from  service  in  war ;  endowed  with  the  col- 
lective gifts  of  tribes  and  princes ;  recruited  from  all 
classes,  honored  by  all.  While  the  Gothic  tempest  was 
trampling  down  the  classic  civilization,  Ireland  provi- 
dentially became  the  nursery  of  saints,  and  the  refuge 
of  science.  Her  two  most  ardent  passions  then  were  to 
learn  and  to  teach.  In  Iceland,  the  Orkneys,  Scotland, 
Britain,  Gaul,  Germany,  even  in  Italy,  her  missionaries 
were  every  where,  transplanting,  in  the  loosened  soil,  the 
pagan  tree  of  knowledge  and  tij  ?  Christian  tree  of  life. 
As  the  Goths  conquered  Rome,  the  Celts  conquered  the 
Goths.  Where  the  barbarian  was  strongest,  there  the 
Christian  islanders  won  their  highest  victories.  The 
Roman  martyrology  gives  us,  for  those  three  centuries, 
three  hundred  saints  —  a  canonized  soldier  of  Christ 
for  every  year  of  the  era.  Why  should  I  name  these 
illustriouB  missionaries  ?  All  Christian  nations,  in  their 
cathedrals,  annals,  and  festivals,  keep  their  memories 
green  before  the  generations  of  men.  - 

In  the 'ninth,  tenth,  and  elev  ith  centuries,'  ^  gr'^^l 
and  unheard-of  danger  threatened  the  Irish  •  ^mrjW- 
the  northern  barbarians.  They  first  appeared  in  the 
Irish  seas  between  the  years  790  and  800.  The  flocks 
and  heros^  "vith  which  the  islaj^d  abounded,  and  the 
richly-endowN  '\  shrines  and  schools^  were  the  chief  attrac- 
tions for  thesic  T)ir9tical  pagans.  Accordingly,  the  sa- 
cred places  suiTet'ed  most  :0^«m  their  incursions.     In  838, 


«# 


.#- 


% 
/ 


^ 


PROTUTANT  SBPORMATION  IN  IRSLAND. 


tbey  spoiled  and  burned  down  Clonaid  of  St  Kymui  a 
famous  school  and  see  :  in  tiir^  same  expedition,  Blanc, 
the  school  of  King  Da^ub'^rt,  and  Durrow  of  Colamb- 
cUle,  also  suffered;  four  timed  'n  the  same  century  Ar- 
magh was  desecrated,  uiid  laid  in  ruins ;  Lismore,  and 
even  Clonmacnoise,  in  the  very  heart  of  th^^  country, 
were  rifled.  .  Three  centuries  oi  peace  had  left  the  pious 
and  studious  Irish  ill  prepared  to  oresist  these  fierce  in- 
v^i-ders,  but  necessity  restored  the  warlike  spirit  of  the 
»  i.A).  In  863,  "the  Danes"  were  beaten  near  Lough 
7  v^V  ,  in  902,  near  Dublin;  at  Dundalk,  in  9:D0 ;  at 
Koscrca,  in  943 ;  and  again  at  Lough  Foyle  in  1003. 
.several  of  their  kings  perished  upon  Irish  fields,  as  sagiE;- 
and  chronicle  attest.  It  was  in  Ireland,  and  probably  as 
a  captive,  that  King  Olaf  Trygvesson,  the  apostle  of 
Denmark,  became  a  Christian.  (A.  D.  1000.) 

But  the  majority  of  those  who  poured  from  th  north 
on  Christendom,  at  this  epoch,  were,  inveterate  pagans. 
The  Irish  wars  against  them  are  therefore  to  he  con- 
sidered as  earlier  crusades.  In  this  character  we  regard 
the  campaigns  of  !l^an,  called  Boroimhe,  that  is,  Trib- 
ute-taker. For  half  a  century,  as  general  and  as  sove- 
reign, he  pursued  these  enemies  of  God  and  man  with 
heroic  constancy.  From  the  Shannon  to  Lough  Foyle, 
in  more  than  threescore  battles,  he  had  broken  and. 
routed  their  annual  expeditions.  At  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century,  he  had  left  no  Northmen  in  the  land,  ex- 
cept a  few  artisans  and  merchants  at  Dublin,  Wexford, 
"Waterford,  Cork,  and  Limerick,  who  puri^ued  their  call- 
ings in  peace,  and  paid  taxes  for  protection.  Brian, 
whose  sovereign  genius  thus  sheltered  his  age  and  na- 
tion, was  at  Gaat  but  a  provincial  king.  The  i^j^  of 
Leinster  was  Maolmorra,  a  jealous  and  heawrong 
prince.  Some  sharp  words  over  a  game  of  chest  played 
at  Kincora.  with  Brian's  son,  led  this  great  criminal  to 
enter  into  a  league  with  the  ancient  enemy,  and  invite 
them  once  more  to  Ireland.  The  northern  races  warm- 
ly responded  to  his  call,  as  did  their  kinsmen  in  Britain 
and  Nomiandy.  The  King  of  Denmark's  two  sons,  Car- 
olus  Kanntus  and  Andreas,  with  twelve  thousand  men, 


;,»r    ', 


r 


I 


24 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


reached  Dublin,  and  were  loudly  received  by  the  traitor 
who  sent  for  them.  Broder  and  Arnud  came  with  one 
thousand  select  Norwegians,  covered  all  in  armor ;  Si- 
gurd, Earl  of  Orkney,  brought  at  least  as  many ;  Maol- 
morra  added  nine  thousand  men.  At  least  twenty-five 
th6usand  of  the  invading  force  mustered  in  Dublin  on 
Palm  Sunday,  A.  D.  1014.  They  insisted  on  being  led 
to  battle  on  Good  Friday,  which  one  of  their  oracles 
assured  them  would  be  a  day  of  victory  to  them.  Brian 
would  have  avoided  fighting  on  so  holy  an  anniversary, 
but  he  was  forced  to  defend  himself.  With  him  was  a 
numerous  army,  divided,  like  the  enemy,  into  three  col- 
umns :  his  two  sons  commanded  the  first ;  Kian  and  Do- 
iq^ld  the  second ;  and  Connor  O' Kelly  and  other  western  ' 
imnces  lead  on  the  third.  A  Scottish  auxiliary  force, 
(tuaider  "  the  great  Stewart,"  fought  on  the  side  of  Ire- 
land and  the  faith.  Brian,  then  over  fourscore  years  old, 
with  crucifix  in  hand,  harangued  his  army.  '<  Long  have 
the  men  of  Ireland,"  he  exclaimed,  "  groaned  under  the 
tyranny  of  these  seafaring  pirates ;  the  murderers  of 
your  kings  and  chieftains;  plunderers  of  your  for- 
tresses; profane  destroyers  of  the  churches  and  mon- 
asteries of  God  ;  who  have  trampled  and  committed  to 
the  flames  the  relics  of  his  saints ;  and  (raising  his  voice) 
May  the  Almighty  God,  through  his  great  mercy,  give 
you  strength  and  courage  this  day  to  put  an  end  forever 
to  the  Lochlunian  tyranny  in  Ireland,  and  to  revenge 
upon  them  their  many  perfidies,  and  their  profanations 
of  the  sacred  edifices  dedicated  to  his  worship ;  this  day, 
on  which  Jesus  Christ  himself  suffered  death  for  your 
redemption."  He  then,  continue  the  ancient  annals, 
"  showed  them  the  symbol  of  the  bloody  sacrifice  in  his 
left  hand,  and  his  golden-hilted  sword  in  his  right,  de- 
claring that  he  was  willing  to  lose  his  life  in  so  just 
and  honorable  a  cause."  And  he  did  lose  it,  though  not 
in  the  battle.  The  chiefs  of  the  army  insisted  on  his 
retiring  to  his  tent,  where  he  was  slain  before  the  cruci- 
fix by  a  party  of  the  enemy.  The  victory  of  the  Chris- 
tians was,  however,  complete.  At  sunset,  fourteen  thou- 
sand pagan  bodies  lay  dead  upon  that  memorable  ^eld. 


■!««;. 


i«  \  <!■:.-'■  ^■. 


■.^MimnMMH«*i«i««liWlllMi 


*5 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND.       25 


1 


•:-i^, 


The  Irish  loss  was  less  in  numbers ;  but  Brian  himself, 
his  second  son,  and  two  grandsons,  the  great  Stewart 
of  Scotland,  and  other  captains  fell  on  their  side.  The 
fame  of  the  result  filled  all  Christendom  in  that  and  after 
times ;  the  chronicles  of  Epiparchus,  and  of  Ratisbon, 
the  Niala  Saga,  and  the  Saga  of  Earl  Sigurd,  preserved 
among  the  Normans  and  their  northern  kindred  the 
memory  of  "Brian's  battle."*  It  was  to  Christendom  a 
later  Tours,  or  an  earlier  Lepanto,  this  event  of  Good 
Friday  in  Ireland,  A.  D.  1014.  Under  Brian's  successor, 
Malachi  IL,  the  Danes  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
recover  their  lost  possessions  in  Leinster,  but  were  sup- 
pressed, and  Dublin,  their  city,  burned  and  demolished. 
This  eleventh  century,  so  auspiciously  begun,  is  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  in  modern  Irish  history.  It  is 
at  this  time  we  must  look  for  the  first  eakening  of  the 
federal  bond,  which  had  hitherto  kept  Tara  the  capital, 
and  the  Ard-righ  the  Imperator  under  the  Celtic  consti- 
tution ;  with  the  derangement  of  the  ancient  balance, 
there  comes  into  account  the  aggrandizement  of  the  great 
houses.  The  O'Briens,  especially,  overgrew  every  pro- 
vincial standard.  Malcolm,  King  of  Scots,  married  a 
daughter  of  Brian  ;  Donagh,  Brian's  heir,  married  Dri- 
ella,  daughter  of  Godwin,  Earl  of  Kent,  sister  to  the 
Queen --"jCj^ngland,  and  to  Harold  heir  presumptive. 
When  Godwin  and  his  sons  were  banished,  they  took 
refuge  with  O'Brien  ;  and  from  Ireland,  and  with  Irish 
troops,  they  returned  to  assert  their  rights  in  England. 
Twenty  years  after  the  battle  of  Hastings,  the  sons  of 
Harold,  fostered  and  educated  in  Ireland,  made  a  descent 
with  Irish  troops,  landing  in  the  Severn,  as  their  father 
had  done,  and  fighting  with  hereditary  ill  luck.f  Thus 
was  Ireland  brought  into  direct,  collision  with  the  new 
and  sensitive  Norman  dynasty  established  in  the  neigh- 
boring island.  To  this  dynasty,  the  townsmen  and 
itradesmen  of  Danish  origin,  tolerated  in  the  seaports, 


*  The  well-known  Danish  ode  on  this  battle,  translated  by  Thomas 
lOray,  will  also  occur  to  the  reader's  memory. 

t  Thierry's  Norman  Conquest,  vol.  i.  j,.,,i,  ,.  .jji-^u.  u.  *  «{t  ,^^*  - 

o 


'A: 


-^ 


m 


•      • 


*rl_j-<i , 


»■?«. 


m' 


S6 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


■•^P 


«»« 


i&' 


also  turned  with  expectation.  They  sent  letters  of  con- 
gratulation to  William  the  Conqueror,  on  his  accession ; 
their  bishops  of  Dublin  and  Waterford  went  to  Canter- 
bury to  be  consecrated;  in  1142,  Irish  Danes  served 
under  Cadwallader,  King  Henry^s  ally  in  Wales ;  and 
in  1165,  they  served  under  Henry  IL,  in  person,  against 
David  ap  Owen.  This  alliance,  so  natural  in  its  origin, 
wants  not  a  link  in  those  ages ;  but,  though  natural,  it 
can  hardly  be  justified,  when  we  know  that  these  same 
naturalized  Irish  Danes  rendered  homage  to  the  succes- 
sive kings  of  Ireland.*  They  evidently  acted  a  double 
part  in  the  politics  of  both  kingdoms  at  this  period. 

While  the  Norman  dynasty  was  strengthening  itself 
in  England,  and  the  Celtic  constitution  was  gradually 
degenerating  from  its  essential  unity,  the  Irish  hie- 
rarchy were  zealously  employed  in  repairing  the  disci- 
pline, and  the  churches,  destroyed  by  three  centuries  of 
pagan  warfare.  An  unlettered  clergy,  more  accustomed 
to  defend  their  creed  with  the  sword  than  the  syllogism, 
had  succeeded  the  learned  fathers  of  the  apostolic  age ; 
the  canons  were  flagrantly  violated,  often  unintention- 
ally ;  the  office  of  erenach,  or  treasurer,  originally  con- 
fined to  archdeacons,  was  usurped,  almost  in  every  dio- 
cese, by  laymen ;  the  very  primacy  had  become  an  heir- 
loom, and  for  three  generations  had  been  kept  in  one 
family.  God  had  pity  on  his  people,  and  raised  up  a 
second  St.  Patrick,  in  the  person  of  the  illustrious  Mala- 
chy,  Archbishop  of  Armagh.  He  became  the  restorer  of 
the  old  foundations,  and  the  founder  of  new  ones.  He 
reopened  the  school  of  Bangor,  and  founded,  or  com- 
pleted, the  college  of  Armagh.  He  introduced  the  Cis- 
tercian order,  and  sent  pupils  to  graduate  at  Clairvaux, 
under  his  dear  friend  St.  Bernard.  He  held  several  syn- 
ods, revived  discipline,  repaired  sacred  edifices,  and  set, 
in  his  own  life,  the  holy  example  of  a  perfect  bishop. 
Five  of  his  contemporaries  are  canonized  as  saints  —  the 
best  proof  that  he  had  worthy  and  zealous  fellow-labor- 

•  A.  D.  1073,  they  rendered  homage  to  the  Ard-righ  Thorlogh  j  A.  D. 
1096,  to  the  Ard-righ  Mortogh ;  A.  D.  1164,  to  MoMurrogh. 


m 


^V 


■•■v 


*.  ■• 


.# ' 


«-> 


,  of  con- 
-ccssion ; 
Canter- 
s  served 
les;  and 
,,  against 
ts  origin, 
latural,  it 
ese  same 
le  sncces- 
a  double 
iriod. 
ling  itself 
gradually 
Irish   hie- 
the  disci- 
inturies  of 
[•customed 
syllogism, 
istolic  age ; 
lintention- 
nally  con- 
every  dio- 
ic  an  heir- 
pt  in  one 
lised  up  a 
LOUS  Mala- 
•estorer  of 
[ones.     He 
1,  or  com- 
Id  the  Cis- 
iClairvaux, 
,veral  syn- 
s,  and  set, 
|ct  bishop. 
Ants—- the 
low-lsibor- 

Irlogh ;  A.  !)• 


'^^'-       W:^ 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


vied 


tl 


other 


ers.     The  great  provincial  families 
in  contributing  material  to  the  restoration  of  religion. 
Then  Holy  Cross  was  founded  by  the   O'Briens ;    then 
Cong  and   Sligo  rose  upon  the  grants  of   the  O'Con- 
nors ;  then  Mellifont  raised  its  noble  front  heavenward ; 
then  Ardagh,  Kells,  Ferns,  Lismore,  Clonmacnoise,  and 
Boyle  rejoiced  in  the  returrt  of  their  long-absent  glory. 
St.  Malachy  died  at  Armagh  in  1148 ;  but  the  good  work 
did  not  pause.     In  1152,  the  council  of  Kells  was  held 
by  the    legate,  Cardinal   Papiron,  where  the    palliums 
(or  Roman  capes)  were  duly  delivered  to  the  four  arch- 
bishops, and  where,  also,  a  memorable  event  —  the  abo- 
lition of  the  slavery  of  Saxon  domestics  — was  decreed. 
The  Irish  church  might  now  have  looked  for  another 
apostolic  age.     But  it  was  not  so   ordered.      A  new 
trial  in  the  civil  order  awaited  pastors  and  people.     As 
Maolmorra  had  invited  the  Danish  invasion  long  before, 
so  his  descendant,  Dermid,  banished  for  political  and 
personal   crimes,   conspired  to   bring  in   the    Normans. 
Though  guilty  and  unpopular,  he  had  a  party  in  Lein- 
ster,  and  when,  in  1169,  that  party  was  reenforced  by  a 
[few  foreign  knipfhts,  the  Danish  town  of  Wexford  opened 
[its  gates  to  them.     The  next  year,  Danish   Waterford 
Ireceived  a  further  detachment  of  his  allies,  under  Rich- 
iard.  Earl  of   Pembroke ;  and  then  the  wedge  entered 
that  divided  beyond  repair  the  uncentralized  native  con- 
Lstitution.     In  1172,  Henry  II.  visited  Ireland,  and  made 
jcompacts  with  some  of  its  princes,  and  prescribed  limits 
to  his  own  subjects,  settled  on  the  eastern  coast.     Under 
enterprising  leaders,  at  different  times,  these  limits  were 
enlarged  in  various  directions.     De  Courcy,  Fitzgerald, 
[Butler,  and  De  Burgo  are  the  great  names  of  the  Nor- 
mans in  Ireland.     Against  them,  the  Milesians  may  put, 
[without  fear  or  shame,  the   O'Briens,  O'Connors,  and 
jO'Neils.     The  fluctuating  frontiers  of  the  Norman  in- 
jterest  during  four  centuries  show  that  the  children  of 
[the  Scotii  knew  how  to  guard  their  land  against  the 
lescendants  of  the  Danes. 

This  internecine,  colonial,  or  civil  war  was  necessa- 
rily highly  prejudicial  to  the  best  interests  of  religion. 


•^•«; 


^K'y:. 


■1^^?;-,    '' 


28 


ATTEMPTS    TO   ESTABLISH   THE 


National  feuds  were  carried  into  the  chapter,  the  cloister, 
and  even  the  pulpit.  Prince  John's  chaplain,  Giraldus, 
taunted  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel  that  the  Irish  church 
was  without  martyrs.  "  We  will  have  martyrs  enough 
now  that  your  master  has  come  among  us,"  was  the 
prompt  reply.  Giraldus,  in  a  sermon  at  Christ  Church, 
Dublin,  reflected  on  the  native  clergy.  The  next  day, 
Auban  O'Molloy,  Abbot  of  Glendalough,  from  the  same 
pulpit  preached  a  retort,  in  which  there  aie  allusions  to 
St.  Thomas  a  Beckec  not  to  be  misunderstood.  These 
were  but  faint  porte  its  of  troubles  and  collisions  to  come. 
Among  the  native  clergy,  most  conspicuous  was  St.  Law- 
rence, Archbishop  of  Dublin.  Visiting  England,  he  nar- 
rowly escaped  martyrdom,  while  celebrating  mass  at  the 
;  altar  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury ;  going  to  Rome,  he  is 
ordered  by  Henry  not  to  return  to  his  see,  the  metropo- 
lis of  which  is  now  under  the  English  flag.  He  died  an 
exile,  at  Eu,  in  Normandy.  In  1175,  Primate  Conor 
died  at  Rome,  whither  he  had  gone  to  consult  the  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Peter.  In  1215,  Dionysius,  Archbishop  of 
Cashel,  also  died  at  Rome ;  the  same  year,  returning 
from  the  fourth  Lateran  council,  died  O'Heney,  Bishop 
of  Killallo.  The  native  bishops  have  frequent  and 
urgent  occasions  for  appealing  to  Rome.  Besides  insti- 
gating to  invasion  and  plunder,  the  Kings  of  England 
claim  a  right  of  nomination  to  Irish  bishoprics  not  to 
be  borne.  Thus  David,  a  relative  of  Fitz  Henry's,  being 
appointed,  in  1208,  Bishop  of  Waterford,  is  slain  in  a 
tumult,  endeavoring  to  get  possession  of  it;  thus,  in 
1224,  we  have  "  Robert,  the  English  Bishop,"  of  Ardagh. 
In  1236,  Maolmorra  O'Laughlin,  "  having  obtained  the 
pope's  letters,  with  the  consent  of  the  king,"  is  conse- 
crated Archbishop  of  Tuam,  in  England.  In  1258,  when 
a  successor  to  this  prelate  was  to  be  chosen,  the  suffia- 
gans  of  Tuam  nominated  O'Flynn,  but  the  King  of 
England  nominated  Walter,  of  Salerna.  Walter  died 
the  same  year,  and  so  a  collision  was  avoided.* 

*  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  under  the  several  dates  in  the  text. 
In  addition  to  these  nominations,  we  iind,  in  1246,  Albert  of  Cologne 
nominated  for  Armagh  ;  in  1267,  a  "Koman  Bishop"  of  Clonfert,  ttaaia 
1630,  a  Greek  Bishop  of  Elphin. 


.** 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    llS    IRELAND. 


29 


The  same  fierce  contest  of  nationalities  was  carried 
into  the  monastic  houses.  Mellifont  totally  excluded 
men  of  English  birth,  for  which  it  was  severely  censured 
by  the  chapter  of  the  order.  Donald  0'Neil"i3omplains, 
by  name,  of  English  monks  who  preached  the  extermi- 
nation of  the  Irish  ;  at  Bective,  Conal,  and  Jerpoint,  no 
Irish  brother  of  the  order  may  enter.  Many  years  and 
many  reprimands  were  needed  to  take  the  edge  off  this 
deadly,  criminal  quarrel,  and  to  establish  religious  unity 
between  the  two  races.  Happily,  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, this  better  spirit  generally  prevailed.  The  statute 
of  Kilkenny  (A.  D.  1367)  enacted  in  vain  a  decree  of 
non-intercourse ;  the  union  went  on.* 

Through  warfare,  and  faction,  and  national  controver- 
sies, the  great  duty  of  education  was  not  neglected. 
Flan  O'Gorman  and  other  scholars  of  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries,  it  is  written,  "  studied  twenty  years 
in  the  schools  of  France  and  England."  Armagh  Col- 
lege being  declared  sole  school  of  theology,  seven  thou 
sand  scholars  are  counted  there  at  one  time.  The  Do- 
minicans of  Dublin  bridge  the  Liffey  for  the  convenience 
of  their  scholars ;  Archbishop  de  Bicknor  projects  and 
commences  a  University  of  St.  Patrick's,  for  which  bulls 
are  issued  at  Rome ;  St  Nicholas  College,  at  Galway, 
begins  to  make  itself  known  to  the  learned.  At  Ox- 
ford, there  are  national  feuds  between  "the  three  na- 
tions," and  a  serious  riot  on  Palm  Sunday,  1274.  The 
Irish  students  are  prohibited  from  entering  the  English 
colleges  after  this,  and  so  remain  at  home,  or  betake 
themselves  to  Paris.  The  great  mental  rivalry  between 
the  two  races  was  favorable  to  learning. 

Among  the  laifey,  even  the  noblest,  there  is  no  lack  of 
devotion.  Godfrey  and  Richard  count  some  of  them 
among  their  followers,  as  the  zealous  Tasso  sings :  "  the 
concert  of  Christendom"  was  completed  by  "the  Irish 
harp."     Ullgarg  O'Rorke  died  beside  the  Jordan  in  1231 ; 

*  The  native  saints  were  popularly  supposed  to  avenge  their  invaded 
country.  Dermid  McMurrogh  died  by  the  mterposition  of  St.  Columb- 
cille,  and  Strongbow  by  St.  Bridge's ;  St.  Kiaran  sSved  Clonmacnoise 
••from  the  King  of  England's  constable  ; "  ».  e.,  De  Lacy. 

3* 


30 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


Hugh  O'Connor,  grandson  of  Roderick,  died  on  his 
return  from  Jerusalem  in  1224.  Roderick  himself  died 
in  the  religious  habit,  at  Cong,  in  1198,  having  spent 
five  years  in  the  cloister.  In  his  will  he  left  offerings  to 
the  churches  at  Rome  and  Jerusalem.  During  the  two 
succeeding  centuries,  almost  every  second  obituary  of 
an  Irish  noble  states  that  he  "  gained  the  victory  over 
the  devil  and  the  world,"  in  the  religious  house  and  habit 
of  some  regular  order.  When  St.  John  of  Matha 
founded  his  noble  brotherhood  for  the  redemption  of 
captives,  Ireland  erected  fifty-three  houses  of  that  order 
—  as  many  as  England  and  Scotland  pat  together. 
Such  was  the  Irish  church  of  the  middle  ages. 

In  the  state,  the  provincial  rulers  still  maintained  their 
rank  and  title ;  but  though  many  noble  names  are  men- 
tioned as  "  worthy  heirs  of  the  crown  of  Ireland,"  no 
regular  election  to  that  high  office  seems  to  have  taken 
place  during  the  three  centuries  following  the  death  of 
Roderick.  , 


CHAPTER    n. 

HENBY  VHL  OF  I»f GLAND  ELECTED  KING  OF  IRELAND ANTECE- 

DENTS  OF  THIS  ELECTION.  —  THE  CLERGY  NOT  CONSULTED.— 
THE  CHIEFS  CANVASSED  INDIVIDUALLY.  —  AFTER  THE  ELEC- 
TION  APOSTATE  BISHOPS — CONFISCATION,    SACRILEGE,    AND 

REFORMATION. 

The  election  of  Henry  VIII.  of  England  as  King 
of  Ireland  is  .>ne  of  the  primary  facts  in  the  history  of 
both  nations.  To  our  present  purpose  its  considera- 
tion is  indispensable. 

The  Kings  of  England,  from  Henry  II.  tb  Henry  VII., 
had  always  claimed  the  lordship  of  a  part  of  Ireland. 
Sometimes,  in  the  purposely  indefinite  language  of  dip- 
lomacy, they  had  styled  themselves  "  Dominus  Hibernice,^^ 
without  qualiflbation.  This  title  they  assumed  in  the 
same   sense   that  the  Danish  Vi-kings  of  Dublin  and 


'  X 


f 


PROTESTANT   ^lEFORQVATION    IN    IRELAND. 


31 


Waterford,  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  had  styled 
themselves  "  kings  "  of  the  whole  country.  The  bulls  of 
Popes  Adrian  and  Alexander,  which  were  reiied  on  as 
the  foundation  of  their  title,  were  couched  in  very  gen- 
eral terms,  and  the  non-fulfilment  of  their  conditions 
necessarily  rendered  the  title  conditionally  given  of  no 
legal  authority.  During  the  thirt-eenth  century,  the  Holy 
War,  in  the  fourteenth,  the  wars  with  France  and  Scot- 
land, postponed  the  formal  assertion  of  sovereignty. 
At  the  close  of  the  fourteenth,  the  young  Richard  II.,  a 
candidate  for  the  empire,  was  tauntingly  told,  by  the 
German  electors,  to  "  conquer  Ireland  first."  Under  the 
instigation  of  this  taunt,  his  expeditions  of  1394  and 
13^9  were  undertaken,  in  which  Art.  McMurrogh  won  a 
•deathless  name,  Henry  IV.  his  knightly  spurs,  and  Rich- 
ard IL  lost  his  early  character  for  courage,  and  finally  his 
crown.  While  Richard  was  absent  in  Ireland,  the  ban- 
ished Duke  of  Lancaster  returned  to  England,  seized 
the  government,  and  captured  his  luckless  predecessor. 
Thus  commenced,  with  the  next  century,  that  civil  waf 
-of  the  roses,  which  closed  on  Bosworth  Field  in  1485, 
Henry  Tudor,  Earl  of  Richmond,  the  conqueror  upon 
that  day,  was  a  bastard,  like  William  of  Normandy; 
he  conquered,  like  William,  with  foreign  men  and  arms. 
Still,  the  parliament  confirmed  his  title;  and  his  marriage 
with  Elizabeth  of  York,  the  lawful  representative  of  the 
royal  line,  as  well  as  the  strong  desire  of  all  English- 
men for  peace  at  any  price,  gave  a  sanction  and  a 
strength  to  his  claims,  which  no  other  king  had  obtained 
in  the  same  century.  The  present  British  monarchy 
properl}^  dates  from  the  battle  of  Bosworth  Field. 

Henry  VII.'s  administration  ileeds  to  be  known,  in 
order  to  understand  the  more  important  reign  of  his 
son.  The  one  prepared  the  way  for  the  other,  in  church 
and  state,  in  Ireland  and  in  England.  The  leading  idea 
of  the  new  king  was,  the  centralization  of  all  power  and 
patronage  in  the  hands  of  the  sovereign.  Money  was 
his  darling  object;  taxation  and  confiscation  his  favor- 
ite means.  An  insurrection  in  Yorkshire,  in  the  second 
year  of  his  reign,  and  the  successive  attempts  of  two 


« 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


■^ 


\\ 


claimants  to  the  throne,  in  the  Yorkist  interest,  gave 
him  the  desired  opportunities.  The  Duchess  of  Bur- 
gundy, the  Kings  of  France  and  Scotland,  patronized 
both  "  the  pretenders."  But  their  main  strength  lay  in 
Ireland,  among  the  Geraldines  and  other  nobles  of  "  the 
Pale,"  who,  whatever  they  may  have  thought  of  the 
title  of  Simnel  or  Warbeck,  were  politic  enough  to  dee 
that  a  strongly-established  dynasty  would  be  likely  to 
enforce  its  authority  over  their  baronial  demesnes.  In 
1486,  they  crowned  Simnel  at  Dublin,  and  paid  him 
homage.  Joined  by  two  thousand  Burgundians  under 
Schwartz,  they  invaded  England  the  following  June, 
landed  at  Foudray,  in  Lancashire,  and  gave  battle  to 
Henry  at  Stoke  upon  the  Trent.  They  were  defeated. 
Apong  the  dead  were  the  Lords  Maurice  and  Thomas 
I«'itzgerald,  the  Earl  of  Lincoln  and  Martin  Schwartz. 
Simnel  was  taken  prisoner,  and  made  a  scullion  in  the 
king's  kitchen.  Soon  a  more  formidable  pretender  ap- 
peared, under  the  title  of  Richard,  Duke  of  York,  second 
son  of  Edward  IV.  In  1495,  he  landed  at  Cork,  where 
the  mayor  of  the  city,  O' Water,  the  Earl  of  Desmond, 
and  many  others,  declared  their  belief  in  his  legitimacy, . 
and  rendered  him  homage.  He  tried  bis  fortune  in  Kent,  j 
failed,  and  returned  to  Flanders.  He  again  went  to 
Ireland,  and  from  Ireland  landed  in  Cornwall,  where  he 
gained  three  thousand  adherents.  Advancing  towards 
London,  his  forces  were  surrounded  near  Taunton,  and 
himself  captured.  In  1498,  he  was  executed  on  a 
charge  of  attempting  to  escape  from  the  Tower.  The 
mayor  of  Cork  and  his  son  suffered  with  him  at  Tyburn. 
With  his  usual  policy,  Henry  VII.  made  these  at- 
tempts occasions  for  new  taxes  and  new  confiscations. 
The  insurgents  were  pardoned  at  so  much  per  head ; 
the  poor  for  twenty  pence,  the  rich  for  two  hundred 
pounds.  Cities  and  corporations  were  taxjed  according 
to  their  numbers,  the  London  merchants  paying  not  less 
than  ten  thousand  pounds.  The  Parliament  of  1497 
voted  him  twelve  thousand  pounds  and  three  fifteenths 
of  the  revenue§.  Sir  William  Capell  compounded  for 
one  thousand  pounds  j  the  Earl  of  Derby  was  pardoned 


•m 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND.      WB 

for  six  thousand  pounds.  We  need  not  wonder,  tL  in 
a  few  years  Henry  became  one  of  the  richest  kings  in 
Europe, 

Not  only  did  he  gather  in  riches,  bwt  power  also.  In 
his  reip^n  the  feudal  law  of  "  maintenance,"  which  made 
the  followers  of  each  lord  his  dependants,  in  peace  of 
war,  was  abolished.  The  sheriffs  of  counties,  instead 
of  being  Icrcal  administrators,  were  now  royal  deputies. 
The  Parliament  at  Westminster  swallowed  all  the  pala- 
tine and  ducal  courts  of  the  kingdom,  and  in  its  fulness 
became  the  contented  slave  of  the  king.  Private  prop- 
erty was  converted  into  royal  fiefs ;  estated  orphans  ^ere 
made  royal  wards;  common  lands  were  enclosed  and 
sold.  The  same  arbitrary  and  avaricious  policy  was 
attempted  with  the  church.  The  chapter  of  York  pur- 
chases a  concession  with  one  thousand  marks ;  the  Bish- 
op of  Bath,  at  his  nomination,  undertakes  to  pay  one 
hundred  pounds  per  year  to  the  king;  a  Carthusian 
monast-ery,  for  the  renewal  of  its  charter,  pays  five  thou- 
sand pounds.  I«  these  signs  it  is  not  difficult  to  foresee 
another  Henry  improving  on  the  paternal  examples  of 
avarice  and  absolutism.  «- 

Ireland  had  been  dangerous  to  the  new  dynasty  in  its 
first  years,  but  the  double  defeat  of  the  Yorkists  had 
taught  the  Pales-men  wisdom.  The  Earls  of  Kildare 
and  Desmond  paid  heavily  for  Henry's  forgiveness;  and 
the  colonial  Parliament,  which  sat  at  Drogheda  in  1497, 
was  quite  as  slavish  as  that  which  sat  at  Westminster. 
The  English  deputy  in  Ireland,  Sir  Edward  Poynings, 
was  a  fit  minister  for  such  a  master.  He  obtained  the 
consent  of  the  Parliament,  that,  in  future,  all.  heads  of 
bills  should  be  sent  into  England  lor  the  previous  ap- 
proval of  the  king  and  council.  This  act,  known  as 
Poynings's  law,  is  celebrated  in  Irish  parliamentary  dis- 
cussions, both  of  the  last  and  the  previous  century.* 
For  the  time,  it  effe<3tually  secured  the  dependence  of 
the  Anglo-Irish  barons  on  the  new  dynasty,f 

•  In  1782,  and  at  the  time  of  the  legislative  union,  Poyninga's  law 
vras  a  principal  topic  of  parliamentary  debate  in  both  kingdoms, 
t  Among  those  wh«  did  homage  ttt  Dnttlin  were  Qerald»  Barl  of 


*A'-' 


'    /■■ 


n  ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THB 

Anxious  to  atonet^or  their  double  rebellion,  and  to 
reimburse  themsel)»  for  the  heavy  fines  twice  levied 
on  them,  the  noble«'W  the  Pale  were  disposed  to  renew 
the  struggle  of  rioes,  which  had  been  suspended  for 
more  than  a  century.  The  statute  of  Kilkenny  forbid- 
ding intermarriages  was,  from  the  first,  a  dead  letter 
in  two  thirds  of  the  island.  Fitzgeralds,  Burkes,  and 
Butlers  had  constantly  intermarried  with  O'Connors, 
O'Niils,  and  O'Briens.  There  was  a  near  prospect  of 
national  unity,  when  Poynings,  under  the  instigation  of 
his  royal  master,  insinuated  the  Roman  policy,  "  divide 
and  conquer."  In  1504,  we  find  the  new  loyalists,  with 
<^eir  Milesian  connections,  engaged  in  the  deadly  battle 
of  Knoc-Tuadh  with  the  native  Lish  under  ^'Connor 
and  O'Brien,  and  the  naturalized  Normans  under  Bu.ae 
of  Cianrickarde  and  Bermingham  of  Athenry.  Kildare, 
Gormanstown,  and  Howth  commanded  for  King  Henry, 
and  the  dead  who  were  left  on  that  hard-fought  field 
would  outnumber  those  who  fell  at  Bosworth  and  Stoke 
piled  together.  Knoc-Tuadh  ("the  hill  of  the  battle- 
axes  ")  is  one  of  the  most  memorable  battles  in  the  war- 
like history  of  the  Irish.  Henry  was  well  ^v^n'jed  that 
day  for  the  aid  Ireland  had  given  to  the  prcie aded  dukes 
of  Clarence  and  York.  He  did  not  live  to  reap  all  the 
fruits  of  his  great  victory ;  but  this,  with  many  othei 
advantages,  he  bequeathed  to  his  successor. 

In  1509,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  the  future  "  reformer  " 
found  himself  a  king.  His  very  hrst  act  was  signifi- 
cant of  his  evil  career.  Immediately  after  his  corona- 
tion, he  sent  for  the  oath  he  had  publicly  sworn,  and 
privately  altered  it. 

"  He  had  sworn  to  '  maintain  of  Holy  Church,  granted 
"  by  the  ancient  Christian  Kings  of  England ; '  he  added, 
"  '  as  far  as  they  will  not  be  prejudicial  to  his  jurisdiction 
"  and  royal  dignity.'  He  had  sworn  to  *  maintain  peace 
"  between  Holy  Church,  the  clergy,  and  the  people ; '  for 
"  this  he  substituted  that  he  should  '  endeavor  to  work 


Kildaro,  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  Eustace,  Lord  Portlcstor.  Preston, 
Lord  Gormanstown,  the  Barons  of  Howth,  Trimbleston,  Slame,  and  Dun- 
tany,  the  Abbot  of  St  Mary's,  Dublin,  uid  the  Prior  of  HolmpatrieV. 
•^Tioklow. 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


85 


>thei 

i 

tier" 

■  ''i 

jnifi- 

i 

ona- 

^ 

and 

■1 

f^ 

inted 

Ided, 

i 

ction 

4 

eace 

j 

'for 

w^ork 

eston, 

'■,: 

Dun- 

itriek 

"  with  the  people  and  clergy  under  the  royal  dominion.' 
«  He  had  sworn  to  *  maintain  justice  and  equity,  and  y«^ 
«*  to  be  merciful ; '  this  he  altered  into  a  promise  to  *  grant 
"  mercy  to  him  who,  according  to  his  conscience,  should 
"  merit  it.*  He  had  sworn  to  *  maintain  the  laws  of  the 
"kingdom,  and  the  customs  of  the  nation;'  *  without 
"  prejudice,'  he  wrote,  *  to  the  rights  of  the  crown,  or  his 
"  imperial  dignity.'  Henry,  after  making  these  altera- 
"  tions,  closed  the  book,  and  said  not  a  word  of  what 
"'  he  had  done."  • 

It  is  not  our  place  to  detail  the  history  of  this  reign. 
For  the  first  twenty  years  of  his  life,  Henry  was  gov- 
erned by  a  great  but  unscrupulous  minister.  Cardinal 
Wol^*ey.  On  the  30th  of  November,  1530,  the  cardinal's 
body  was  lowered  into  a  vault  at  Leicester,  and  with 
him  was  buried  the  last  restraint  upon  the  terrible  pas- 
sions of  the  master  he  had  so  long  served  and  controlled. 

The  seeds  of  "  reformation  "  were  silently  growing  up 
in  England  before  and  during  Wolsey's  time.  The  con- 
troversy upon  the  king's  divorce,  and  the  heat  it  pro- 
duced, gave  vigor  to  the  rank  productions  of  schismatic 
scholars.  So  early  as  1523,  the  king  began  to  express 
scruples  touching  the  lawfulness  of  his  marriage  with 
Katherine,  who  had  been  betrothed  to  his  elder  brother, 
Arthur,  and  after  Arthur's  death  married  to  him.  For 
ten  years,  he  tried  every  art  and  every  influence  to  obtain 
the  dispensation  of  Rome,  but  in  vain.  'His  own  power, 
the  book  against  Luther  so  highly  valued,  the  mediation 
of  France,  all  failed  to  procure  the  desired  divorce.  At 
length,  devoured  by  passion  and  impatience,  he  resolved 
to  cast  oft'  the  bonds  of  spiritual  obedience  which  had 
united  England  with  Christendom  for  eight  centuries. 
The  successive  steps  of  the  schism  followed  rapidjy  on 
each  other.  In  1529,  he  proposed,  but  postponed,  the 
law  for  the  confiscation  of  the  lesser  monasteries.  In 
1531,  he  obliged  the  clergy,  under  the  penalty  of  prcemu- 
nire,  (transportation  from  the  realm,)  to  acknowledge 
his  supremacy  in  spirituals.  In  1532,  from  the  national 
convocation  of  the  clergy,  he  obtained  his  divorce.     In 

*  Audia'B  Henry  Vm.  p.  28. 


^■' 


ATTEMPTS    TO   ESTABLISH   THE 


% 


1633  took  place  his  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn,  and 
the  birth  of  Elizabeth,  which  followed  rather  quickly 
tipon  it.  In  1635,  the  royal  "order  in  council"  ap- 
peared, ordering  the  omission  "  of  the  name  of  the  bishop 
of  Rome  from  every  liturgical  book ;"  and  the  same  year 
Lord  Chancellor'  More  and  Bishop  Fisher  died,  martyrs 
of  the  faith,  for  their  resistance  to  the  new  ordinances. 

While  these  events  were  transpiring  in  England, 
Henry,  through  his  agents,  was  urging  forward  a  favor- 
ite project  in  Ireland  —  the  conversion  of  his  title  from 
a  lordship  granted  by  the  pope,  to  a  kingship  by  election 
of  the  estates,  and  the  consequent  modification  of  the 
titles,  tenures,  and  laws  of  Ireland,  upon  the  feudal  basis. 
To  this  design,  Gerald,  Earl  of  Kildare,  seems  to  have 
been  an  obstacle,  and  accordingly  was  summoned  to 
London.  There  he  was  charged  with  having,  among 
other  offences,  married  one  of  his  daughters  to  O'Don- 
nell,  and  another  to  O'Connor,  of  Offally.  He  was  sent 
to  the  Tower,  where,  the  following  December,  he  died. 
A  false  report  having  reached  Dublin,  in  1534,  of  his  exe- 
cution, his  son,  called,  from  the  splendor  of  his  dress, "  Silk- 
en Thomas,"  and  others,  his  relatives,  flew  to  arms. 
O'Neil,  O'Connor,  and  O'Moore  sent  him  supplies  and 
men.  He  began  the  siege  of  Dublin,  and  entered  into  a 
treaty  with  the  citizens,  and  exchanged  hostages  to  insure 
their  neutrality.  At  Clontarf  he  cut  off  a  small  reinforce- 
ment which  had  landed  from  England ;  and  greater  sup- 
plies, Under  skilful  captains,  followed.  After  keeping  the 
field,  with  various  fortunes,  for  more  than  a  year,  he  was 
induced  to  surrender  to  the  king's  mercy.  His  five  un- 
cles followed  his  example ;  but  in  February,  1536,  they 
all  six  suffered  death  at  Tyburn,  with  some  of  their 
adherents.  This  danger,  and  the  consideration  shown 
abroad  to  the  emissaries  of  the  Irish  leaders,  increased 
Henry's  anxiety  to  be  possessed  of  the  crown  of  Ireland 
by  a  title  apparently  legal  and  spontaneous.  Whether 
the  project  originated  with  Wolsey,  or  in  the  controversy 
with  Rome,  or  earlier,  it  certainly  was  much  more  zeal- 
ously urged  after  the  revolt  of  Silken  Thomas  than  it 
had  been  before. 

The  nature  of  the  divorce  controversy  was  not  gen- 


protkstant  reformation  in  IRKLAND. 


37 


pmlly  understood  in  Ireland.  Henry's  book  against 
Luther  was  better  known  than  his  rorrespondeiiee  about 
the  queen.  His  "  Confession  "  of  1536,  with  the  essen- 
tial exception  of  the  Papal  supremacy,  was  altogether 
Catholic.  Hi  "  Six  Articles"  of  1539  all  aflirmed  Cath- 
olic doctrines.  It  was  the  policy  of  Henry  that  the  Irish 
should  be  as  much  in  doubt  of  his  real  purpose  as  diplo- 
macy could  leave  them.  In  1535,  he  had  appointed 
George  Browne,  a  partisan  of  the  divorce,  and  an  Eng- 
lishman, Archbishoj)  of  Dublin ;  but  when  the  new 
prelate  caused  the  Baculvs  Jesus  and  other  sacred  relics 
to  be  burned,  he  was  rebuked  for  his  precipitancy.  In 
June  of  that  year,  he  writes  to  Mr.  Secretary  Cromwell, 
that  "  there  goeth  a  common  rumor,"  that  he  intended  to 
pluck  down  our  Lady  of  Trim,  and  other  idols  ;  "which 
Indeed,"  ho  adds,  '^  I  never  attempted,  although  my  con- 
science would  right  well  serve  me  to  oppresse  such  ydols." 
In  1539,  Con  O'Neil,  Prince  of  Ulster,  taking  alarm  at 
the  rumors  which  had  reached  him,  marched  southward, 
and  after  taking  Ardee  and  Navan,  reviewed  his"  troops 
at  Tara.  On  his  return,  at  Bellahoe,  in  Monaghan,  he 
was  surprised  and  defeated  by  the  Lord  Deputy  Grey, 
who,  after  the  battle,  proceeded  to  Trim,  where  the  famous 
statue  of  our  Lady  stood,  and  the  deputy,  "very  de- 
voutly kneeling  before  her,  heard  three  or  four  masses  • " 
the  archbishop  and  Lord  Butler,  the  treasurer,  refusing 
to  go  in.  The  next  year,  this  deputy  was  superseded  by 
Anthony  St.  Leger,  who,  in  1541,  succeeded  in  assem- 
bling "the  great  court"  at  Dublin,  for  the  long-desired 
election. 

Those  who  attended  for  this  purpose  were  of  two 
classes  —  Anglo-Irish  barons,  and  Milesian-Irish  chiefs  ; 
the  clergy,  by  a  device  of  St.  Leger's,  contrary  to  all 
former  usage,  were  not  summoned.  Of  the  barons,  the 
Earls  of  Desmond  and  Ormond,  and  nearly  all  the  Lein- 
ster  viscounts  were  present ;  of.  the  Celtic  chiefs,  those 
of  secondary  rank  were  numerous,  but  the  principals 
Were  few.  Until  their  suffrages  were  taken,  it  was  felt 
necessary  to  postpone  the  proclamation. 

The   absent    chiefs   were    separately  consulted,  and 


W' 


!», 


3S 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


^■•'- 


their  consent  obtained  on  terms  such  as  usually  existed 
between  vassal  and  sovereign  in  continental  countries. 
O'Brien,  O'Connor  Faily,  and  O'Dun  acknowledged 
the  title  in  June  and  July,  1541 ;  O'Donnell  acknowl- 
edged it  on  the  6th  of  August,  in  the  same  year;  O'Neil 
at  Maynooth,  in  1542 ;  O'Moore  on  the  13th  of  May ; 
M'Carthy,  O'Sullivan,  O'Callaghan,  and  O'Ruarc,  in 
September;  and  M'Donnell  of  the  Glens,  and  M' Wil- 
liam Burke,  on  the  18th  of  May,  1543.  In  each  case, 
the  acknowledgment  was  made  on  the  stipulation  that 
each  chief  was  to  remain  "  head  of  his  nation,"  and  that 
the  ancient  rights  and  laws  of  each  clan  were  to  be  re- 
spected. With  this  guaranty,  they  agreed  that  the 
national  crown,  which  from  the  thirteenth  century  had 
not  been  conferred  upon  any  aspirant,  should  be  united 
to  the  crown  of  England.  In  1542,  the  Dublin  heralds  an- 
nounced that  "his  majesty  is  now,  as  he  hath  always  of 
right  been,  acknowledged  by  the  nobility  and  commons  of 
Ireland  to  be  king  of  the  same"  &c.  In  January,  1543,  he 
was  proclaimed,  in  similar  terms,  in  London;  and  in  1544, 
when  the  suffrages  of  the  chiefs  were  complete,  the  old 
seals  of  office  in  Ireland  were  cancelled,  and  new  ones 
sent  to  Sir  William  Brabazon,  who  was  the  first  viceroy. 
"  The  collation  of  this  royal  dignity  by  the  Irish  nation 
alone,"  says  Mr.  Plowden,  "  is  a  proof  and  a  full  recog- 
nition by  England  of  the  absolute  sovereignty  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  Irish  nation."  *  The  absence  of  the 
bishops  and  lord  abbots  from  the  great  court  is  a 
memorable  omission.  The  Irish  church  stands  acquitted 
of  imposing  the  present  dynasty  on  that  country. 

The  English  ambassadors  abroad  were  duected  to 
procure  the  acknowledgment  of  the  new  title,  which, 
after  some  diplomatic  delays,  was  universally  conceded. 
One  of  the  parties,  who  was  most  reluctant  to  admit  it, 
was  the  King  of  Scotland.f 

•  Plowden's  Ireland,  vol.  i.,  p.  62. 

t  Pinkerton's  History  of  Scotland.  The  Irish  sovereignty  was  con- 
sidered one  of  the  most  ancient  in  Europe,  as  the  following  anecdote 
proveB :  At  the  council  of  Constance,  in  1417,  where  the  legate  of  Henry 
V.  disputed  precedence  with  the  legate  of  France,  priority  was  awarded 
to  the  English  agent  expressly  on  account  of  his  king's  partial  soiver- 


* 


;iv^" 


«»• 


-   *   PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


39 


ittea 

d  to 

i 

lich, 

ided. 

>JS 

it  it, 

'^^u 

con- 

m 

cdote 

"W^m 

[enry 
ni'ded 

'  ''^3^^M 

loiver* 

^fli 

The  chiefs  of  the  great  court  proceeded  in  1542  to 
Greenwich  Palace,  where  they  formally  presented  Henry 
the  crown  of  Brian  and  of  Roderick.  In  exchange,  pat- 
ents of  nobility  were  made  out  for  them  ;  and  O'Neil, 
O'Brien,  and  Burke  returned  Earls  of  Tyrone,  of  Tho- 
mond,  and  of  Clanrick&rde.  These  new  titles,  and  the 
new  code  which  they  announced,  gave  great  dissatisfac- 
tion to  the  clans,  who  now  began  to  understand  on  what 
business  their  chiefs  had  been  summoned  to  Dublin. 
They  truly  foresaw  that  this  was  but  the  beginning  of 
actual  conquest;  and,  in  fact,  at  the  very  time  the  new 
earls  were  inspecting  their  patents  at  Greenwich,  Henry 
had  before  him  a  detailed  project  for  the  confiscation  of 
the  entire  soil  of  Ireland,  prepared  for  his  consideration 
by  the  chief  baron  of  his  Dublin  exchequer.*  Confis- 
cation and  Protestantism  were  born  at  a  birth  in  the 
fertile  mind  of  the  newly-elected  King  of  Ireland.  What- 
ever charges  we  can  bring  against  the  Catholic  Plan- 
tagenets,  they  certainly  never  proposed  wholesale  con- 
fiscation. That  was  reserved  for  the  Defenders  of  the 
Faith  and  Supreme  Heads  of  the  Church,  by  law  estab- 
lished. 

The  election  over,  the  crown  fitted  to  the  chosen  head, 
the  earls  graciously  dismissed  to  their  homes,  the  first 
attempt  to  introduce  the  reformation  begins.  Arch- 
bishop Browne  had  been  a  Protestant  from  the  time  of 
his  nomination  by  the  king ;  and,  in  his  zeal  for  the  new 
doctrines,  had  more  than  once  impeded  his  master's 
diplomacy.  In  1538,  he  was  reprimanded  for  his  impru- 
dentse  ;  the  same  year,  he  made  a  visitation  of  his  prov- 
ince, accompanied  by  the  chancellor  and  others.  They 
extended  their  journey  as  far  south  as  Clonmel,  where 


eignty  in  ancient  Ireland.  The  authority  of  Albertua  Magnus  and 
BartholomeRus,  on  that  occasion,  was  cited,  for  they  bad  divided  univer- 
sal history  thus :  — 

"  In  the  division  of  the  world,  Europe  was  subdivided  into  four  great 
kingdoms  — 1.  That  of  Kome;  2.  That  of  ConstMitinople ;  3.  That 
of  Ireland ;  4.  That  of  Spain ;  Whence  it  appears  the  King  of  Eng- 
land, being  also  King  of  Ireland,  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  kings  of 
Europe." 

•  Baron  Finglas's  "Breviate  of  Ireland,"  in  Harris's  Hibemica. 


*-'•;' 


* 


■¥: 


,'   .    ^     * 


40 


ATTEMPTS    TO   ESTABLISH    THE 


V^%. 


•% 

*       *- 


they  were  met  by  the  Archbishops  of  Cashel  and  Taam, 
and  tlje  Bishops  of  Leighlin,  Ferns,  Lismore,  "  Immo- 
lacen,"  and  Limerick.  Browne  preached ;  "  his  sermon 
finished,"  writes  his  friend  the  chancellor,  "  all  the  said 
bishops  in  all  the  open  audience  took  the  oath  mentioned 
in  the  acts  of  Parliament,  both  touching  the  king's  suc- 
cession and  supremacy  —  before  me,  the  king's  chan-' 
cellor;  and  divers  others  there  present  did  the  like*" 
This  statement,  said  to  be  copied  from  the  original  in 
the  S'tate  Paper  Office,  is  not  borne  out  by  Browne's 
reports  of  the  same  year,  153S,  to  Secretary  Cromwell. 
He  states^  "  I  endeavor  myself,  and  also  cause  others  of 
my  clergy,  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  set  forth 
the  king's  cause;"  with  what  success  he  does  not 
say.  The  same  year,  Agard,  an  official,  writes  to  Crom- 
well, that,  "excepte  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  only 
Lord  Butler,  the  master  of  the  rolls,  Mr.  Treasurer, 
and  one  or  two  more  of  small  reputations,  none  may 
abide  the  hearing  of  «7,  (the  king's  supremacy,)  spiritual, 
as  they  call  them,  or  temporal,"* 

The  burning  of  the  "  Baculus  Jesus,"  this  year,  was  a 
wanton  and  fruitless  sacrilege.  It  was  a  relic  which  had 
been  held  in  universal  veneration  from  the  earliest  Chris- 
tian times.  Every  Life  of  St.  Patrick  agrees  in  the 
tradition,  that  on  his  journey  to  Rome,  it  was  given  him 
by  a  hermit  of  the  Tyrrhene  Sea,  as  a  staff  which  our 
blessed  Redeemer  himself  had  carried.  Our  earliest 
records  notice  it  as  existing  at  Armagh;  that  it  was 
used  to  swear  by,  and  to  quell  social  war.  Mailsheach- 
lan,  coming  into  the  tent  of  the  monarch,  Thurlogh 
O'Brien,  A.  D.  1080,  bearing  this  staff,  induced  him  to 
turn  back  from  an  invasion  of  Leinster;  in  1143,  peace 
between  Con  naught  and  Ulster  was  ratified  by  an  oath 
taken  on  this  staff;  in  1184,  it  was  translated  to  Dublin, 
probably  by  Philip  de  Worcester ;  and  so  late  as  1529, 
we  find  oaths  taken  "upon  the  hcUe  Masebooke  and  the 


*  Correspondence  cited  in  tile  Preface  to  the  Obits  and  Mortyrology 
Of  Christ  Church :  Dublin,  (published  by  the  Archaeological  Society,) 
1844. 


'V  • 


*,■■-      •■ 


^ 


'■"S: 


fr,. 


WM^fcJjL.H  llim  111 


faihwwi  iJiw. 


*■  '■ 


1  Tuam, 
'  Iinmo- 

sermon 
;he  said 
ntioned 
g's  sue- 
3  chan- 
E  like." 
[inal  ill 
rowne's 
Dmweii. 
;hers  of 
et  forth 
es    not 

Crom- 
h  only 
tasurer, 
le  may 
firitual, 

was  a 
3h  had 
Chris- 
in  the 
n  him 
our 
irliest 


#  .    PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


41 


great  relike  of  Erlonde,  called  Baculum  Christi,  in  pres- 
ence of  the  king's  deputie,  chancellor,  tresoror,  and 
justice."  The  public  destruction  of  this  venerable  relic  was 
sure  to  be  bruited  abroad  over  the  kingdom,  and  equally, 
to  produce  indignation  and  opposition.  The  politicians 
interposed  to  prevent  the  repetition  of  such  indiscretions. 
In  another  letter,  Browne  writes  that  he  has  contradicted 
a  rumor  that  he  "intended  to  pluck  down  our  Lady  of 
Trim  and  other  idols,"  although  he  adds,  his  heart  well 
enough  inclined  him  thereto.  •         ^ 

At  the  «  Great  Court "  of  1541,  an  abstract  of  the 
laws  and  ordinances  of  the  Pale  was  made  and  decreed 
the  basis  of  the  future  Irish  code.  One  of  these  ordi- 
nances, thus  confirmed,  was  in  these  words  :  — 

"I.  That  the  church  of  Ireland  shall  be  free  and 
enjoy  all  its  accustomed  privileges. 

"  II.  That  the  land  of  Ireland  shall  hereafter  enjoy  all 
its  franchises  and  privileges,  as  it  used  to  do  before."  * 

Notwithstanding  these  guaranties,  the  election  of 
Henry  was  scarcely  over  when  the  reformers  renewed 
their  work.  When  asked  their  authority,  they  produced 
a  commission  "  dated  two  years  before,"  which  consti- 
tuted Dr.  Browne  ind  four  others  a  tribunal  of  inspec- 
tion and  examination.  Armed  men  attended  them  from 
church  to  church,  hewing  down  the  crucifix  with  their 
swords,  defiling  the  sacred  vessels,  and  defacing  the 
monuments  of  the  dead.  "  There  was  not,"  says  the 
contemporary  annalist,  "  a  holy  cross,  nor  an  image  of 
Mary,  nor  other  celebrated  image  in  Ireland,"  within 
the  reach  of  the  reformers,  or  near  their  fortresses,  "  that 
they  did  not  burn."  f     The  celebrated  image  at  Trim,  so 


.-m 


^ 


.::4 


*  Cited  in  the  Iriah  Commons'  Journals,  A.  D.  1641.  Of  course  "  the 
Church  of  Ireland,"  in  Henry  VII.'s  reign,  could  only  mean  the  Holy 
]ioman  Catholic  church. 

t  "A.  D.  1637.  A  heresy  and  a  new  error  broke  out  in  England,  the 
effects  of  pride,  vainglory,  avarice,  sensual  desire,  and  the  prevalence  of 
a  variety  of  scientific  and  philosophical  speculations,  so  that  the  people 
of  England  went  into  opposition  to  the  pope  and  to  Home.  At  the 
same  time  they  followed  a  variety  of  opinions,  and  the  old  law  of  Moses, 
after  the  manner  of  the  Jewish  people,  and  they  gave  the  title  of  Head 
of  the  Church  of  Qod  to  the  king.    Ther3  were  enacted  by  tl^^  king 

4  *  -^  ° '  * 


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42 


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ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE  .W"" 


^'fl^W' 


long  respited,  "  which  used  to  heal  the  blind,  the  deaf, 

>  the  lame,  and  every  disease  in  like  manner,"  —  to  which 

women  in  labor  offered  gifts,  and  all  Ireland  rendered 

respect,  —  was  "  burned  "  with  the  rest.    "  The  image  of 

^  Christ    crucified,  in  the    Abbey   of   Ballybogan,"   also 

*  suffered.     Pilgrims  were  forbidden  free  passage  through 

;  English  districts  and  towns,  and  the  favored  shrines  of  the 

faithful  were  all  swept  into  the  treasury  of  Dublin.    The 

commissioners  declared  that  Henry's   warrant  directed 

them -to  "break  in  pieces,  deform,  and  bear  away  the 

same,  so  that  no  fooleries  of  this  kind  might  henceforth 

forever  be  in  use  in  the  said  land."    Nothing  loath,  they 

traversed  the   Pale,  keeping  well  clear  of  less  guarded 

ground.     The  churches  of  Dublin  fell  first  under  their 

iconoclastic  fury.     The  relics  of  St.  Brendan  and  St. 

Lawrence  in  Christ  Church  were  burned.    Of  the  statues 

but  one  —  the  image  of  our  Lady,  placed   over   "  Le 

'f.Dame's  Gate,"  escaped  by  being  buried  in  the  well  of 

Whitefriars.  Its  contemporaries  all  perished.  ♦*  The  seven 

orders  "  of  religious  were  expelled  from  three  hundred 

and  seventy  houses  by  intimidation  or  actual  force.   The 

cathedrals  of  old  Leighlin  and  Ferns  shared  the  fate  of 

St.  Patrick's,  the  English  being  masters  of  those  towns. 


A 


and  council  new  laws  and  statutes  after  their  own  will.  They  ruined 
the  orders  who  were  permitted  to  hold  worldly  possessions,  viz.,  monks, 

'*  canons,,  nuns,  and  brethren  of  the  Cross ;  and  the  four  mendicant  orders, 
viz.,  the  Minors,  the  Preachers,  Carmelites,  and  Augustinians.  The 
possessions  and  living  of  all  these  were  taken  up  for  the  king.  They 
broke  the  monasteries.  They  sold  their  roofs  and  bells,  so  that  there 
was  not  a  monastery  from  Arann  of  the  Saints  to  the  Ipcian  Sea  that 
was  not  broken  and  shattered,  except  only  a  few  in  Ireland,  which 
escaped  the  notice  and  attention  of  the  English.  They  further  burned 
and  broke  the  famous  images,  shrines,  and  relics  of  Ireland  and  Eng- 
land. After  that  they  burned  in  like  manner  the  celebrated  imago  of 
Mary,  which  was  at  Ath-Truim,  .  .  .  .  and  the  staff  of  Jesus,  which 
was  in  Dublin,  performing  miracles  from  the  timie  of  Patrick  down  to 
that  time,  and  which  was  in  the  hand'  of  Christ  whilb  he  was  among 
men.  They  also  made  archbishops  and  sub-bishops  for  themselves ; 
and  although  great  was  the  persecution  of  the  Roman  emperors  against 
the  church,  it  is  not  probable  that  ever  so  great  a  persecution  as  this  ever 
came  from  Rome  hither.  So  that  it  is  impossible  to  tell  or  narrate  its 
description,  unless  it  should  be  told  by  him  who  saw  it."  —  Annah  of 

''';  Ulster,  commonly  called  *'  The  Four  Masters." 


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PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


41^: 


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The  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones,  gathered  by  the  - 
commissioners,  is  rated    (by  them)  at  .£326  2*.  lid.;  * 
other  stuffs  "of  superstition"  at  £1710  2s.;  and  one  ^ 
thousand  pounds  of  wax   tapers,  at  £20.    'When   we  >^ 
consider  the  value  of  money  in  that  age,  this  was  no^ 
inconsiderable  spoil  from  four  out  of  the,  then,  numerous ' 
dioceses  of  the  kingdom.*    One  of  the  most  active  of  the 
commissioners  was  Chief  Baron  Finglass,  who  had  pre- 
pared shortly  before  a  "  Breviate  of  the  State  of  Ireland," 
in  which  he  roughly  estimates  the  strength  of  the  Celtic  " 
chiefs ;  urges  the  policy  of  confiscating  their  lands,  and 
offering  their  "  settlement "  to  "  young  gentlemen  of  good 
family  out  of  England."  f    He  goes  into  the  details  of  this 
plunder  very  deliberately  ;  and  to  him  belongs  the  first  ? 
suggestion  of  that  series  of  confiscaticTns  which  Eliza-  ' 
beth,  the  Stuarts,  Cromwell,  and  William  followed  up ; 
which    Cecil,   Raleigh,  Bacon,  Milton,  and  Clarendon 
advocated  or  defended;  and  which  ceased  only  when 
there  was  nothing  further  left  to  confiscate.     The  whole- 
sale civil  confiscations   were  deferred  till  the  churches  ^ 
were  first  stripped  of  their  wealth.     One  robbery  at  a  • 
time  was  considered  enough. 

The  monasteries  and  churches  which  stood  beyond  the   * 
Pale,  and  still  enjoyed  the  protection  of  native  chiefs,  were 
partly  donated  to  adventurers,  "  if  they  could  conquer  >, 
them,"  and  the  principal  corporators  of  wal    d  towns  had 
the  rest,  in  order  to  interest  them  in  the  progrc   s  of  plunder. 
The  northern  abbeys  (untouched  for  many    oars  after) 
were  vested  in  the  Chichesters,  Caufields,  and  renegade 
McDonnells ;  the  southern  were  conferred  on  the  Prot- 
estant Lord  Butler,  Sir  John  King,  and  others ;  the  mid- 
land and  western  on  the  Dillons,  Plunketts,  Croitons, 
Taafes,  and  the  Earls  of  Clanrickarde  and  Thomond. 
The  corporate  towns  were  also  tempted  with  the  spoils :  . 
Dublin  got  All  Hallows  and  other  houses;  Drogheda 
got  Mellifont;  Limerick,   Inniscattery ;  Clonmell,  Wa- 


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ii.v 


*  Original  Report,   Records  Office,  Dublin.    Mant's    Presbyterian 
Church  in  Ireland, 
t  «•  Breviate  of  Ireland,"  in  Harris's  Hibemica.  ^^-^.x*  o^.  *v. 


;**»r 


w 


44 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE      ,«|k-; 


tt 


terford,  and  Carrickfergus  were  equally  endowed.  Thus 
the  interests,  the  selfish  interests,  of  a  large  body  of  bad 
men,  in  town  and  country,  became  inextricably  inwoven 
with  heresy^  and  the  roots  of  one  race  were  planted  in 
the  mouldering  foundations  of  the  other.  The  O'Neils 
were  robbed  to  enrich  the  Chichesters,  the  McCarthys  to 
build  up  the  Butlers,  the  O'Sullivans  to  endow  the 
Boyles  and  Kings,  and  the  rich  abbeys  of  the  pious 
O'Connors  fell  a  prey  to  the  Burkes  and  Croftons. 
Henry's  commissioners  of  course  did  not  neglect  them- 
selves. Browne,  in  imitation  of  his  friend  Cranmer, 
had  married  a  wife,  and  pleaded  that  he  had  a  family  to 
provide  for.  He  complains  in  his  letters  that  he  was 
refused  "  Grace  Dieu "  and  ^'  a  very  poor  abbey  of 
friars,  near  Ballymore,"  As  a  consolation,  he  was 
endowed  with  lands  and  abbeys  in  other  counties,  which 
^we  find  his  descendants  enjoying  two  generations  later. 
After  that  his  family  vanishes  from  the  records  of  the  state. 
The  Irish  church  was  as  a  rich  argosy  abandoned 
by  its  criptors,  the  civil  rulers,  to  be  rummaged  and  preyed 
on  by  pirates.  Besides  the  fifty  cathedrals  of  its  ancient 
dioceses,  besides  the  numerous  colleges  enriched  by  the 
piety  of  early  tinies,  besides  the  many  places  of  pilgrim- 
age where  the  offerings  of  successive  centuries  were 
stored  up,  there  were,  to  excite  avarice  and  reward 
apostasy,  nearly  six  hundred  houses  of  the  religious 
orders.  The  Augustinian  orders,  malo  and  female,  could 
count  two  hundred  and  fifty-six  of  their  own  founda- 
tions ;  the  Cistercian  houses  were  forty-four ;  the  Bene- 
dictine, fourteen ;  the  Dominicans,  forty-one ;  the  Fran- 
ciscan orders,  one  hundred  and  fourteen ;  the  Carmelites, 
twenty-nine ;  the  Knights  Hospitallers,  twenty-two ;  the 
Hermits  of  St.  Augustine,  twenty-four ;  the  Trinitarians, 
"* fourteen;  the  Norbertines,  eight;  the  Bernardines,  two 
Besides  these,  there  were  a  few  houses,  under  the  rule  of 
St.  Bridget,  and  St.  Columbcille,  and  a  priory  of  Cul- 
dees   at  Armagh.*      Some  of  these   houses,   especially 


;#     '■ 


*  In  Archdall's  Monasticon  there  is  an  incomplete  list  of  five  hun- 
dred and  sixty-three  Irish  houses  confiscated. 


%, 


^ 


^  * 


>>^ 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND.  45 

those  of  the  Cistercian  order,  founded  at  the  time  of  the 
restoration  of  religion,  were  endowed  with  large  posses- 
sions and  many  privileges.  They  afforded  pieces  of  silver 
enough  for  every  Judas  that  could  be  found. 

Henry  VIII.  did  not  live  to  direct  the  work  he  had 
commenced.  Ulcerated  in  body  and  mind,  he  died  a 
death  of  exquisite  agony,  in  January,  1547.  The  daily, 
fluctuations  of  his  creed,  during  the  last  years  of  his 
life,  had  prevented  any  regular  system  of  Protestant 
propagandism.  The  work  of  plunder,  however,  was 
zealously  carried  on  by  the  king  and  the  apostates,  high 
and  low.  That  method  of  conversion  needed  neither 
council  nor  confession  of  faith.  It  proceeded  with  com- 
plete success  in  everyshire  at  the  same  time.  In  Ireland, 
it  was  limited  only  by  the  extent  of  military  force,  at  the 
command  of  Dr.  Browne,  Lord  Butler,  Baron  Finglass, 
and  their  fellow-commissioners.  It  took  a  full  century 
to  complete  the  grand  scheme  of  sacrilege  and  spoliation 
which  they  devised. 

The  character  of  Henry,  as  exhibited  in  his  Irish 
policy,  is  a  compound  of  duplicity  and  ferocity.  His 
treacherous  execution  of  the  six  Geraldines ;  his  dis- 
simulation before  the  act  of  election,  and  his  instant 
use  of  his  new  powers  for  purposes  of  confiscation ;  his 
choice  of  agents,  in  church  and  state,  such  as  Lord 
Leonard  Grey  and  Archbishop  Browne ;  his  imposition 
of  the  oath  of  supremacy,  —  these  high  crimes  against 
religion  and  law  fully  entitle  him  to  be  reckoned  among 
the  greatest  criminals  known  to  mankind.  He  united  all 
the  passions  of  Nero  to  all  the  crafty  intelligence  of 
Tiberius.  His  end  was  like  theirs,  a  memorab'o  mani- 
festation of  God's  justice  beginning  in  this  world. 

His  election  introduced  that  vicious  confusion  into  the 
civil  affairs  of  Ireland  which  has  not  yet  been  elimi- 
nated. It  altered  every  thing  old  and  salutary;  it  was 
a  radical  revolution.  It  substituted  an  heretical  foreign 
king,  an  apostate,  anti-national  clergy,  and  an  aristocracy 
of  conquest,  for  native  princes,  a  Catholic  hierarchy,  and 
the  old  tenures  which  secured  the  soil  to  its  cultivators. 
The  form  of  election  was  just  sufficiently  legal  to  con- 


1  ^ 


zW-f" 


f*-, 


V.,:-*- 


^ 


46 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


stitute  a  de  facto  government,  and  yet  was  unconstitu- 
tional enough  to  render  debatable  every  extreme  ex- 
ercise of  its  authority.  A  doubtful  allegiance  and  a 
vicious  authority  were,  in  the  political  order,  counter- 
parts of  the  first  attempt  to  introduce  the  reformation 
into  Ireland.  We  can  hardly  be  surprised  to  find,  three 
years  after  Henry's  election,  the  Anglo-Irish  Earl  of 
Ormond  poisoned  at  London  for  opposing  his  govern- 
ment, or,  the  same  year,  (1545,)  the  Milesian  Irish  chiefs 
in  secret  treaty  with  Francis  I.  of  France,  who  sent 
John  de  Montluc,  as  his  envoy  into  Ulster.  All  they 
asked  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  England,  was  the  pope's 
sanction,  "two  thousand  arquebuses,  two  hundred  light 
horsemen,  and  four  cannon."  *  But  the  complications  of 
French  policy  delayed  any  action  upon  this,  the  first 
projected  Catholic  insurrection. 


CHAPTER    HI. 

KING  EDWAED  AND  QUEEN  MARY.  -  CBANMEB»8  ATTEMPTS  TO 
ESTABLISH  THE  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND THE  FIRST  CATH- 
OLIC INSURRECTION.  —  ACCESSION  OF  QUEEN  MARY.-  CATHOLIC 
REACTION — RESTORATION  OF  THE  IRISH  BISHOPS.— DEATH  CF 
QUEEN  MARY.  — STATE  OF  PARTIES. 

The  boy  Edward,  son  of  Henry  VIII.  by  Lady  Jane 
Seymour,  was  crowned  king,  in  1547,  in  the  tenth  year 
of  his  age.  His  mother's  brother,  Edward  Seymour, 
duke  of  Somerset,  was  declared  protector  of  the  king- 
dpm,  during  the  minority  of  his  nephew. 

The  ruler  of  England,  in  matters  of  religion,  during 
the  reign  of  Edward,  or  rather  the  protectorate  of 
Somerset,  was  Thomas  Cranmer,  a  native  of  Not^^'ng- 
ham,  who,  from  being  an  expelled  scholar  of  Oxford, 

*  Cox,  Rerum  Hib.  Anglicarum. 


,v, 


'PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


47 


Jane 
year 
rmour, 
king- 


and  the  husband  of  the  barmaid  of  the  Dolphin  Inn, 
had  risen  to  the  rank  of  King  Henry*8  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  He  had  first  attracted  the  king's  attention  by 
writing  in  favor  of  the  divo*  >  cf  Queen  Katharine;  he 
had  secretly  married  the  niece  of  the  reformer  Osian- 
der,  while  he  still  pretended  to  be  a  Catholic  and  a 
bishop;  he  had  assisted  at  the  marriage,  the  accusation, 
and  sentence  of  the  four  queens,  whom  Henry  succes- 
sively espoused  and  put  away.  By  consenting  to  every 
thing,  he  had  at  last  overcome  every  thing,  and,  next 
to  the  regent,  was  the  most  powerful  man  in  the  king- 
dom. 

Ireland  attracted,  early,  Cranmer's  attention.  An  order 
in  council  commanding  the  use  of  the  new  liturgy  in 
that  kingdom  was  issued;  another  order  commanded  the 
administration  of  the  oath  of  allegiance ;  another  trans- 
ferred the  primacy  from  Armagh  to  Dublin,  much  to  the 
satisfaction  of  George  Browne.  Some  new  bishops 
of  Cranmer's  making  —  among  them  Dr.  Goodacre  for 
Armagh,  Dr.  Lancaste?  for  Kildare, .  Dr.  Bale  for  Os- 
sory,  and  Dr.  Travers  for  Leighlin  were  sent  over.  They 
were  providently  accompanied  by  six  hundred  horse 
and  four  hundred  foot,  under  ISir  Edward  Bellingham, 
"  a  man  of  great  valor,  and  celebrated  for  military  science," 
who  was  honored  with  the  title  of  "  marshal  and  cap- 
tain general  of  Ireland."  The  old  bishops,  being  sum- 
moned to  Dublin,  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  boldly 
refused,  with  three  sorrowful  exceptions,  Myler  Magratb* 
Archbishop  of  Cashel,  Staples,  Bishop  of  Meath,  and 
Quinn,  or  Coyn,- Bishop  of  Limerick.  The  apostasy 
of  Magrath  alone  excited  attention,  the  other  two  being' 
"  nominations  "  of  Henry.  The  laity  of  his  diocese  rose 
in  a  tumult  of  indignation,  and  ordered  him  to  leave  the 
city  of  Cashel,  where  Dr.  Edmund  Butler,  son  of  the  Earl 
of  Ormond,  was  enthroned  in  his  stead.  Magrath  fled  in- 
to England,  and  threw  himself  on  the  bounty  of  Cranmer. 
In  Queen  EUizabeth'a  reign,  we  find  him,  for  a  time,  in- 
truding successively  in  the  sees  of  Clogher,  Lismore, 
Killala,  and  Anchory.  He  died  in  1622,  at  the  extreme 
age  of  100  years.  J^lmea  L's  captains  in  Munster  did  not 


./: 


M 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    TIIR 


i 


; 


:1 


spare  his  heirs,  though  they  pleaded  their  kindred  "  to 
Milerus,  late  archbishop."  The  other  "king's  bishops" 
enccceded  little  better.  Dr.  Goodacre,  having  the  fear  of 
Shane  O'Neil  before  his  eyes,  never  ventured  to  Armagh ; 
Dr.  Bale,  under  cover  of  Ormond  Castle,  entered  Kil- 
kenny. He  preached  "  Vc;ry  peaceably  "  bo  long  as  the 
Irish  did  not  understand  him  ;  but  when  he  ordered  his 
menials  to  pull  down  images  and  crosses,  they  rose, 
"slew  five  of  his  servants,  and  barely  suffered  him  to 
escape."*  Dr.  Lancaster's  diocese  lay  among  the  O'Con- 
nors and  O'Moores  of  Offaily  and  Leix,  who  had  no 
very  strong  desire  for  his  administration.  They  rose  in 
arms  against  it,  and  Bellingham  marched  to  support  the 
bishop.  A  battle  was  fought  at  Three  Castles,  in  Kil- 
kenny, in  which  the  Catholics  were  defeated,  and  Maurice 
<'  of  the  Wood,"  son  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  wad  taken 
prisoner.  He,  with  two  of  his  nephews,  was  executed  at 
Dublin.  The  bishop  and  the  foreign  soldiery  triumphed  : 
they  built  or  repaired  forts  in  Offaily  and  Leix,  and 
strongly  garrisoned  Cork,  Belfast,  and  Athlone.  These 
garrisons,  when  not  othciwise  employed,  were  allowed 
to  make  descents  upon  the  churches  and  schools  of  the 
adjacent  country.  At  Down,  they  mutilated  the  shrine 
of  Sts.  Patrick,  Bridget,  and  Columbcille.  Taking  to  their 
longboats,  the  Belmst  garrison  plundered  the  shrines 
of  Rathlin  Islet,  and  coming  to  Derry,  they  assailed  the 
Black  Abbey  of  St.  Columbcille,  in  which  so  many 
princes  and  prelates  had  laid  down  mitre  and  crown. 
Here,  Shane  O' Neil's  forbearance  ended,  and  with  the 
red  hand  of  Ulster,  he  brushed  the  wretches  out.  Four 
miles  above  Athlone,  on  the  sloping  banks  of  the  Shan- 
non, stood  the  seven  churches,  the  castle,  round  tower, 
and  village  of  Clonmacnoise.  There  St.  Kiaran  died,  and 
their  Abbot  Tighernan  O'Broin,  after  the  Danish  desola- 
tions gathered  t-ogether  the  early  annals  of  our  race.  In  a 
sudden  foray,  the  garrison  of  Athlone  surrounded  Clon- 
macnoise, slew  all  its  religious  inhabitants  who  remained, 
mutilated  the  tombs  of  chiefs  and  abbots,  and  carried 


*  Life  of  Dr.  Bale,  prefixed  to  his  'v^rorks. 


-'^ 


niOTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRKLAND. 


40 


off  the  rich  shrine  of  its  saint.  Donald  O'Brien,  of 
Thomond,  worthy  of  his  name,  rose  in  arms  on  receiving 
this  intelligence,  captured,  in  rapid  succession,  the  garri- 
sons of  Clare  and  Limerick,  and  in  the  decisive  battle 
of  Thurles,  where,  nearly  four  centuries  before,  his  ances- 
tor had  routed  Strongbovv,  he  cleared  the  .southern 
counties,  for  that  generation,  of  the  reformers.* 

On  Leix  and  Offaily  the  forces  of  the  captain-general 
were  concentrated.  Defeated  in  several  engagements, 
O'Moore  and  O'Connor  agreed  to  refer  their  case  to  the 
protector.  On  reaching  London,  with  some  friends, 
they  were  cast  into  the  Tower,  where  O'Moore  died  in  his 
chains.  O'Connor's  heir  found  safety  in  exile  at  the 
court  of  Margaret  of  Sexjtland.  Their  districts  were 
declared  confiscated  to  the  crown,  and  in  the  next  reign 
were  called  King's  and  Queen's  county.  Bellingham 
boosted  that  he  had  been  the  first  to  enlarge  the  limits 
of  "the  Pale,"  since  the  days  of  Edward  III.  This  boast 
was  not  only  well  foundecl  in  this  instance,  but  in  an- 
other; in  ;!550,  the  head  of  the  old  royal  house  of  Mc« 
Murrogh,  who  had  not  participated  in  the  election  9f 
Henry,  "  made  his  submission"  in  Dublin. 

The  lord  deputy  having  received  an  order  in  coun- 
cil, dated  the  6th  of  February,  1551,  commanding  the 
use  of  the  new  liturgy  in  all  the  churches,  in  flagrant 
violation  of  the  conditions  of  the  election  of  1541,  im- 
mediately summoned  the  bishops,  as  he  had  ten  years 
before  summoned  the  barons.  They  assembled,  on  the 
1st  of  March,  at  Dublin,  the  Catholics  led  by  Primate 
Dowdal,  the  heretics  by  Dr.  Browne.  After  a  lengthy 
discussion,  "  the  primate  and  his  party  left  the  assem- 
bly. The  Archbishop  of  Dublin  remained  and  received 
the  king's  order,  commending  it  to  those  of  his  brethren 
who  were  present;"  that  is,  to  Staples,  Lancaster,  Travers, 


•  The  plunder  of  Clonmacnoise  is  thus  stated  in  the  Annals :  "  They 
took  the  large  bells  out  of  the  steeple,  and  left  neither  large  nor  smnil 
bell,  image,  altar,  book,  gem,  rior  even  glass  in  a  window  in  the  'walls  of 
the  church,  that  they  did  not  carry  with  .them ;  and  that  truly  was  a 
lamentable  deed  to  plunder  the  city  of  St.  Kiaran,  the  patron  saint."  — 
Atmabof  the  Four  Master' ?     A-  !>•  1552. 

5 


60 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


kind  Coyn,  or  Quin,  who  were  already  IVotestants.  On 
Easter  day  following,  Christ  Church  Cathedral  beheld 
for  the  first  time  the  "celebration  of  divine  worship  ac- 
cording to  the  English  liturgy."  The  viceroy,  the  mayor, 
and  the  bailiffs  were  present.  Dr.  Browne  "  preached  an 
able  sermon  from  the  18th  verse  of  the  119th  psalm"  — 
•*  O^en  mine  eyes  that  I  may  see  the  wonders  of  the  law.^^  * 
St.  Leger,  having  conducted  this  second  negotiation  to 
a  result,  was  recalled  after  Easter,  and  Sir  James  Crofts 
sent  over  in  his  stead.  One  of  his  instructions  was,  "to 
propaffate  the  worship  of  God  in  the  English  tongue ; 
and  the  service  to  be  translated  into  Irish,  in  those 
places  which   need  it."     He  had  the  English   liturgy 

Printed  at  Dublin  —  one  of  the  first  books  issued  there, 
le  appointed  "  a  herald  at  arms,  named  Ulster,"  and 
performed,  as  his  eulogist  says, "  many  memorable  acts  " 
— most  of  which  are  now  forgotten. 

The  death  of  Edward,  in  July,  1553,  and  the  accession 
of  Mary,  daughter  of  Katharine  of  Arragon,  gave  the 
harassed  Irish  church  a  reprieve.  Her  marriage  with 
Philip  of  Spain,  the  following  year,  still  farther  aug- 
mented this  hope,  which,  for  a  season,  was  fulfilled,  so 
fax  as  the  church  was  concerned.  The  banished  bishops 
were  restored  to  their  sees,  and  the  desecrated  churches 
to  their  ancient  uses.  The  restoration  of  the.church  lands 
was  postponed,  until,  by  the  queen*8  death,  it  was  ren- 
dered impossible.f  The  apostate  Anglo-Irish  nobles  con- 
formed to  their  former  faith  with  as  much  alacrity  as 
the  English  aristocracy.  With  the  exception  of  some 
of  the  remoter  Irish  chiefs,  the  heads  of  the  Milesians 
were  all  at  peace  with  the  state  ;  Ponald  O'Brien  and 
Shane  O'Neil  included.  When,  in  the  last  year  of  Mary, 
her  deputy  marched  from  Dublin  to  Galway,  he  met  no 
opposition  on  the  way.     It  is  stated  that  "  the  bishops 


*  Sir  R.  Cox'b  Rerum  Hib.  Ang.  Rev.  R.  King's  Book  of  the  Irish 
Church. 

t  The  prioxj  of  Kilmainham,  restored  to  the  knights  of  St.  John,  was 
the  only  act  of  restitution  of  this  kind  of  property  in  Mary's  short  reign. 
Doubtless,  if  she  had  lived,  the  other  religious  estates  would  also  have 
been  restored  to  the  right  owners. 


i.nliW8<ri«i 


rKOTKBTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


51 


andclercyof  Tuam,Clonfert,  and  Clonmacnoi«e  went  out 
to  meet  nim  in  proccsHion."  The;  Spanish  marriage  had  a 
great  effect  in  preparing  the  irritated  and  insurrectionary 
spirjt  of  the  Irish  plft)ple  for  peace.  In  Philip,  and  in 
Philip's  influence,  they  had  every  confidence ;  nor  was 
the  queen  without  her  pertional  claims  to  their  regard. 
Apart  from  the  heroic  constancy  with  which  she  had 
persevered  in  the  profession  and  practice  of  her  faith, 
she  had  other  good  qualities,  in  Irish  eyes. 

In  the  reign  of  Edward,  we  have  seen  that  O'Connor, 
of  Offally,  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower.  Six  years  he 
lingered  on  in  that  gloomy  prison,  from  which,  at  length, 
he  was  delivered,  in  this  romantic  fashion.  "  Margaret, 
[his  daughter]  went  to  England  on  the  strength  of  her 
friends  there  and  of  her  knowledge  of  the  English  lan- 
guage, to  ask  the  release  of  her  father  from  Queen 
Mary ;  and  having  appealed  to  her  mercy,  she  obtained 
the  release  of  her  father,  whom  she  brought  back  with 
her  to  Ireland."*     Her  praise  was  in  every  mouth,  in 


•  This  heroism  of  Margaret  O'Connor  was  hereditary  in  the  women 
of  her  family.  Three  generations  earlier,  another  Margaret,  daughter  of 
O'CarroU,  married  O'Connor,  chief  of  Offally,  retaining,  after  her  mar- 
riage, (a  not  unusual  custom  with  du'  ancestresses,)  her  maiden  name. 
Several  traits  of  her  character  \qii  in  M'Firbiss's  Annals,  prove  her  to 
have  been  a  woman  of  remarkable  spirit  and  capacity.  Thus  we  read 
of  her  pilgrimage  to  Compcnteila,  and  how  the  English  of  Trim,  having 
taken  several  Irishmen,  her  luMghbors,  prisoners,  and  her  lord  having  in 
his  keeping  certain  English  prisoners,  she  "went  to  Beleathatruim,  and 
gave  all  the  English  prx^^ners  for  Mageoghan's  son,  and  for  the  son's  son 
of  Art,  and  that  unadvised  to  Calagh,  and  she  brought  them  home."  — 

Mis.  Irish  Arch.  Society,  vol  i.  p.  212 "It  wM  she,"  says  the  same 

annalist,  "that  twice  in  one  year  proclaimed  to,  and  commonly  in- 
vited, (in  the  dark  days  of  the  yeare,)  on  the  feast  day  of  Da  Sinchel  in 
Killaichy,  all  persons,  both  Irish  and  Scottish,  or  rather  /  '  ians,  to  the 
general  feasts."  The  numbers  who  usually  attended  these-  feasts  are  set 
down  as  "  upwards  of  2000,"  by  some  at  2700.  It  is  stat'  d  also,  "  she 
was  the  only  [one  ?]  woman  that  has  made  most  of  preparing  highways 
and  erecting  bridges,  churches,  and  mass  books,  and  of  all  manner  of 
things  profitable  to  serve  God  and  her  soul."  Her  death,  from  cancer  of 
the  breast,  is  very  pathetically  bemoaned,  as  well  as  it  might  be  by  the 
M'Firbiss  of  her  time.  It  took  place  in  1461,  which  is  called  on  that 
account  "  an  ungratious  and  unglorious  yeare  to  all  the  learned  in  Ire- 
land, both  philosophers,  poets,  guests,  strangers,  religious  persons,  sol> 
diers,  mendicants,  or  poor  orders,  and  to  all  manner  and  corts  of  poor  in 
Ireland."  —  Mia.  Irish  Arch»  Soc.  vol.  i. 


52 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


k 


.J. 


her  time,  and  Queen  Mary's  was  not  forgbtten.  It  was 
the  first,  and  we  believe  it  remains  almost  the  only,  case 
on  record,  where  an  English  sovereign  extended  mercy 
to  an  Irish  patriot  prisoner.  ^  ' 

Not  alone  in  this,  but  in  other  cases,  did  Queen  Mary 
do  justice  towards  the  Irish  race.  Gerald  and  Edward, 
sons  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  who  had  been  sixteen  years 
in  exile  in  France  and  Rome,  were  restored  to  their 
estates  and  titles.  The  heir  of  Fitzpatrick,  Earl  of  Os» 
sory,  was  also  permitted  to  return,  and  resume  his  rank 
and  property.  "  The  greater  part  of  the  south  of  Ireland 
were  much  rejoiced  "  at  this  unhoped-for  restoration  of 
ancient  Catholic  families.  The  towns  and  cities  were  in 
special  good  humor.  The  only  retaliatory  measures  they 
took  against  the  reformers  was  the  infliction  of  some 
nicknames.  No  Protestant  suffered  in  life,  or  limb,  or 
property.  Nay,  adds  one  of  themselves,  "  Such  was  the 
general  toleration,  that  many  English  families,  friends  to 
the  reformation,  took  refuge  in  Ireland,  and  there  en- 
joyed their  opinions  and  worship  without  molestation."* 
Cranmer's  bishops  were  allowed,  without  hindrance,  to 
quit  the  country.  Dr..Leverous  was  irestored  in  Kildare, 
and  Dr.  Walsh,  banished  by  Cranmer,  in  Meath ;  Dr.  Hugh 
Curwin  was  appointed  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  chan- 


•  Taylor's  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  i.  The  following  Protestant 
anecdote  of  this  reign  is  inserted  for  ♦•  what  it  is  worth  "  :  —  "  Mary 
despatched  Dr.  Cole  to  Ireland  with  a  commission  for  punishing  the 
Protestants  ;  Cole  stopped  at  Chester,  and  being  waited  on  by  the  mayor, 
a  Romanist,  Dr.  Cole's  zeal  outran  his  discretion,  and  he  exclaimed  to 
the  mayor,  while  holding  up  a  leathern  box,  **Here  is  a  commission  that 
shall  lash  the  heretics  of  Ireland."  The  landlady,  Elizabeth  Edmonds, 
who  was  a  Protestant,  and  had  a  brother  of  the  same  creed  in  Dublin, 
became  alarmed,  watched  her  opportunity,  and  placed  a  pack  of  cards, 
wrapped  up  in  a  sheet  of  paper,  and  abstracted  the  commission.  Dr. 
Cole  arrived  in  Dublin,  7th  October,  1558.  The  lord-lieutenant  con- 
vened a  full  council  to  receive  Dr,  Cole  and  hear  the  queen's  commission 
read,  but  when  with  great  solemnity  the  box  "Was  opened,  nothing  but  a 
pack  of  cards  was  found.  The  astonished  doctor  declared  he  had  received 
a  commission,  and  proceeded  to  England  to  obtain  another,  or  a  copy  ; 
but  while  on  his  journey,  the  brief  but  iniquitous  career  of  Mary  was 
stopped,  and  the  lives  of  many  Protestants  were  saved.  Mra.  Ed- 
monds received  a  pension  of  forty  pounds  a  year  from  Queen  Eliza- 
beth." —  Quoted  in  Martin's  **  Ireland  before  and  after  the  Union." 


^. 


'■^ 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


53 


It  was 

y,  case 
mercy 

I  Mary 
dward, 
I  years 
0  their 
of  Os- 
is  rank 
Ireland 
iion  of 
vere  in 
es  they 
f  some 
mb,  or 
vas  the 
ends  to 
ere  en- 
ition."* 
mce,  to 
Cildare, 
•.  Hugh 
chan- 


roteutant 

Mary 

ling  the 

e  mayor, 

aimed  to 

ision  that 

Idmonds, 

Dublin, 

of  cards, 

on.     Dr. 

ant  con- 

nmission 

ng  but  a 

received 

a  copy  ; 

[ary  was 

[ra.  Ed- 

bn  Eliza- 


cellor.  The  pope,  (Paul  IV.,)  in  June,  1555,  confirmed 
the  title  to  the  kingdom,  which  Mary  inherited  from  her 
father.  A  national  synod,  held  the  same  year,  restored 
the  canon  law,  and  effected  much  for  the  purity  of 
religion  throughout  the  island.  In  1556,  an  Irish  Par- 
liament sat  at  Dublin ;  thence  was  prorogued  to  Limerick, 
and  afterwards  to  Drogheda.  Very  important  laws  and 
ordinances  were  ordained  in  these  sittings. 

"  Cox  mentions  some  acts  of  this  Parliament  which 
"  had  not  been  printed.  In  them  the  queen's  legitimacy 
"  was  admitted  ;  she  was  invested  with  royal  authority, 
"  and  her  posterity  declared  entitled  to  inherit  the  crown 
"  of  England  and  Ireland ;  heresy  was  made  liable  to 
"  punishment,  and  ordered  to  be  suppressed ;  all  the  acts 
"  which  were  passed  against  the  pope,  since  the  twentieth 
"  year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIIL,  were  repealed,  and  all 
"  concessions  made  by  Archbishop  Brown  were  declared 
"  null  and  void  ;  the  first  fruits  too  were  restored  to  the 
"  church ;  but  all  these  statutes  were  annulled  in  the  be- 
"  ginning  of  the  succeeding  reign.  An  act  was  also  passed 
"for  granting  the  queen  a  subsidy  of  thirteen  and  four- 
"  pence  on  every  plough-land ;  and  another,  by  which  it 
"  was  prohibited,  under  pain  of  felony,  to  introduce  or 
"receive  armed  Scotchmen  into  Ireland,  or  to  inter- 
"  marry  with  them,  without  a  license  under  the  great 
«  seal." 

This  last  law  was  suggested  by  the  fact  that  a  Scot- 
tish settlement  had  been  formed  in  Antrim,  by  the  Mc- 
Donnell's and  others,  who  held  that  country  by  main 
force  and  the  connivance  of  O'Neil.  The  Scottish  and 
Irish  Gael  had  always  considered  themselves  one  people, 
and  in  no  respect  did  they  more  entirely  agree  than  in 
hatred  of  the  Saxon.  In  the  summer  of  1556,  they 
besieged  Carrickfergus,  the  garrison  of  which  had  given 
them  much  trouble;  but  the  Lord  Deputy  Sussex, 
marching  northward,  defeated  them  with  great  loss. 
They  still,  however,  kept  their  forts  and  fields  in  the 
glens  of  Antrim. 

The  only  native  opposition  to  Queen  Mary  arose  from 
the  despotic  attempts  of  Sussex  and  Sidney  to  substi- 

6* 


sx: 


■*S^     4 


■•'«#- 


■^*#- 


"^v. 


'^&iL~ 


54 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


_.t>?x* 


tute  the  English  for  the  Brehon  law.  Donald  O'Brien 
and  Shane  O'NqII  equally  resisted  the  abolition  of  the 
old  law  of  the  land.  Both  maintained  that  the  source 
of  nobility  was  the  election  by  the  tribe  ;  that  the  land 
of  each  clan  belonged  in  common  to  its  members,  who 
had,  however,  the  right  to  dispose  of  their  part,  with  the 
general  consent;  that  the  customs,  or  Celtic  common 
law,  of  gossipred,  gavelkind,  and  coshering,  answering  to 
the  old  English  usages  of  maintenance,  fosterage,  and 
gavelkind,  were  just  and  wise,  and  ought  to  stand ; 
that  hereditary  Brehons  were  better  judges  than  royal 
barons.  In  short,  they  contended  for  all  the  former 
law  of  Ireland,  excepting  only  that  part  regulating  the 
supreme  power.  After  some  warlike  demonstrations  of 
the  deputies,  some  castles  and  skirmishes  won  and  lost, 
they  finally  made  peace  with  O'Neil,  at  Kilmainham, 
aild  O'Brien  at  Dangan,  in  which  they  conceded  to 
Ulster  and  Munster  the  free  exercise  of  the  Brehon 
law. 

On  the  17th  November,  1558,  Mary  died  at  St.  James's 
palace,  Westminster;  Gardiner,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
died  before  her,  and  Cardinal  Pole  on  the  following  day. 
King  Philip  was. absent  in  Spain;  the  Catholics  were 
left  without  a  head.  The  Protestants,  on  the  contrary, 
had  kept  up  a  compact  organization  during  this  reign. 
The  mercantile  jealousy  of  Spain,  the  national  humilia- 
tion of  the  loss  of  Calai«,  and  the  intrigues  of  those  who 
had  forfeited  the  possession  of  power  by  their  conduct 
in,  former  reigns,  sustained  that  combination.  They  can 
only  be  characterized  by  the  term  parti/;  for  they  had  all 
the  strength  and  weakness  of  party.  They  procured  a 
>  vote  of  the  Parliament  declaring  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Anne  Boleyn,  heiress  to  the  throne.  She  was  crowned 
in  Westminster,  according  to  the  Roman  ritual,  the 
Bishop  of  Carlisle  officiating.  Dr.  Heath,  Archbishop  of 
York,  and  other  prelates,  refused  to  attend. 

These  six  years  of  Mary's  reign  were  highly  useful  to 
the  Irish  church  as  a  breathing  space,  as  a  truce  between 
two  battles.  It  demonstrated  the  hollowness  of  that 
court  religion  which  was  put  on  and  off  like  a  garment, 


-«t,r 


r 


.•'•%, 


t*ir: 


iS' 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


55 


and  it  enabled  the  hierarchy  to  strengthen  their  defences, 
and  to  recruit  their  broken  order.  The*  storm  that  now 
arose  found  it  with  full  and  well-ordered  ranks,  and  prel- 
ates prepared  to  meet  martyrdom  rather  than  apostasy. 


w- 


CHAPTER   IV. 


■v^^- 


THE  IRISH  CATHOLIC  STRENOTH  AT  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZA- 
BlirrH.  — TEST  OATHS  ENACTED.  —  FIRST  CATHOLIC  CONFEDERA- 
CY.—THE  INSURRECTION  OF  THE  DESMONDS.  —  CONFISCATIOIT 
OF  MUNSTER.— THE  URST  MARTYRS — THE  ULSTER  PRINCES — 
SECOND  CATHOLIC  CONFEDERATION — ALLIANCE  WITH  $fAIS.— 
BATTLE  OF  KINSALE. 

W^EN  Elizabeth  was  crowned,  there  were  about  sixty 
great  ^jv^.fs,  or  princes,  in  Ireland,  all  of  whom  pos- 
«esst  •  ivual  civil  and  military  power.  Perhaps  forty 
were  Milesians,  the  remainder  Anglo-Normans.  Cutting 
a  crescent  out  of  the  Leinster  side  of  it,  the  island  was  still 
Celtic  The  Brehon  laws  were  still  administered  in  three 
of  the  provinces:  the  chiefs  spoke  Latin,  French,  or  Eng- 
lish,  and  the  people  under  their  banners  still  cherished  their 
native  tongue  and  native  customs.  Well  organized,  this 
force  would  be  a  formidable  opposition.  The  O'Neil  could 
command  six  thousand  foot  and  one  thousand  horse  ;  the 
Earl  of  Desmond,  lord  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
acres  of  the  most  fruitful  soil  of  Munster,  could  count  five 
hundred  knights  of  his  own  name,  each  of  whom  stood  for 
a  dozen  armed  men ;  the  O'Brien  and  his  sufTragans  could 
command  nearly  equal  force,  and  the  western  and  Leinster 
chiefs  as  many  more.  With  a  population  of  little  more 
than  a  million,  Ireland  had  a  total  of  nearly  fifty  thousand 
men  in  arms  throughout  this  long  reign,  though  never  in 
one  particular  place,  nor  under  one  general-in-chief.  The 
result  teaches  how  vainly  provincial  forces  must  struggle 
for  liberty  if  national  unity  does  not  inspire  and  concen- 
trate their  efforts. 


"^'S'? 


^m^ 


# 


~f 


•^ 


66 


...id^. 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


Til e  acts  of  sijpremacy,  ancl  uniformity,  in  the  outset 
of  the  new  reigii,  showed  Catholics  what  they  had  to 
expect.  By  the  one,  all  clergymen  and  laymen  holding 
church  property  or  civil  office  should  swear  to  receive  the 
queen's  headship  of  the  church  —  to  deny  this  thrice  was 
treason ;  by  the  other,  none  but  the  established  liturgy 
was  to  be  u  J  by  clergymen,  on  pain  of  perpetr.al  im- 
prisonment, and  absence  from  the  established  churches 
on  Sunday  entailed  a  fine  of  one  shilling  on  laymen,^ 
The  oath  of  supremacy,  by  a  retrospective  enactment,  was 
to  be  put  to  all  who  held  public  office,  had  taken  a 
degree  abroad,  or  were  engaged  in  the  profession  of  the 
Jaws.  Members  of  the  House  of  Commons  were  to  be 
tested  by  it ;  the  peers  were  exempt.  Elizabeth's  first  Irish 
deputy,  Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of  Sussex,  called  a  Dub- 
lin Parliament  in  1559 ;  but,  though  the  attendance  was 
inconsiderable,  its  acts  were  held  to  be  ever  after  binding. 

At  this  Parliament  was  passed,  among  other  acts,  "  an 
actte  for  the  uni/ormytie  of  common  prayer  and  service 
in  the  churche  and  admynystration  of  the  sacraments  in 
the  church." 

"  An  acte  againste  suche  persons  as  shall  unreverentlye 
speake  agaynst  the  sacrament  of  the  bodye  and  blode  of 
Christe,  commonlye  called  the  sacrament  of  the  alter, 
and  for  the  receivynge  thereof  under  bothe  kyndes." 

"  An  acte  restoring  the  crowne  the  auncient  jurisdis- 
tion  over  the  state  ecclesiasticall  and  spirituall,  and 
abolyshinge  all  power  repugnant  to  the  same,"  ' 

"  An  acte  for  the  conferrynge  and  consecratynge  of- 
arohebushopps  and  bushopps  within  this  realme."       >*  * 

By  the  same  Parliament,  the  late  "pryorye  or  IjOS- 
pytall  of  Seynt  Jones  Jerusalem,"  in  Irelvind,  was 
restored  to  the  crown. 

In  the  subsequent  session,  which  began  in  1560,  an 
act  was  passed,  of  which  the  most  important  clauses 
were  — 

"  Sec.  V.  No  foreign  power  to  exercise  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  in  this  realm. 

"  Sec.  VI.  Such  jurisdiction  annexed  to  the  crown. 
^**  Sec.  VII.  Ecclesiastical  persons  and  officers,  judges. 


-    u 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


4- 


(( 


an 


5  of 

uOS- 

was 

i' 

|0,  an 

Luses 

itical 
In.     ' 


1^', 


juf 'ices,  mayors,  temporal  officers,  and  every  other  person 
that  hath  tne  queen's  wages,  to  take  the  oath  of  su* 
premacy. 

"Sec.  VIII.  Penalty  for  refusinff  the  oath,  forfeiture 
of  office,  and  of  promotion  during  life, 
'  "  Sec.  XVII.  Commissioners  to  exercise  spiritual  juris- 
diction shall  hot  adjudge  any  thing  heresy;  but  what  is 
so  judged  by  the  canonical  Scriptures,  or  the  first  four 
general  councils,  or  any  other  general  council,  or  by 
Parliament," 

' ,  All  bishops  and  archbishops,  **  in  the  name  of  God," 
were  called  on  to  aid  in  enforcing  the  same.  And,  lest 
the  old  bishops  should  fail  of  their  part,  even  so  con- 
jured, a  set  of  queen's  bishops  were  duly  inducted.  One 
Sheyn  was  entitled  Bishop  of  Cloyne  and  Ross,  and  com- 
menced his  career  at  Cork  by  burning  the  image  of  St. 
Dominic ;  a  successor  to  Dr.  Bale  was  set  down  in 
Ossory,  and  forty  principal  citizens  of  Kilkenny  gave 
heavy  bond's  to  attend  his  ministrations;  one  Brady  was 
made  queen's  bishop  of  Meath,  and  Adam  Loftus,  fellow 
of  Cambridge,  aged  twenty-eight  years,  whose  "  comely 
person  and  good  address  pleased  the  queen,''  was  made 
Archbishop  of  Armagh,  over  which  he  watched  solici- 
tously from  the  safe  distance  of  Dublin  Castle.  The 
*'  recusant"  bishops  (this  was  the  English  synonyme  for  1  he 
faithful)  were  obliged  to  throw  themselves  on  the  native 
princes  for  protection,  and  with  them  in  Munster  and 
Ulster,  they  found  safetvyet  a  while.  The  Earl  of  Des- 
mond, O'Brien,  and  0'!^eil  were  the  champions  of  the 
persecuted  churchmen.  O'Neil,  especially,  distinguished 
himself  in  the  first  years  of  Elizabeth.  A  troop  of  horse, 
under  one  Randolph,  having  landed  at  Derry,  stabled 
their  horses  in  St.  Columbcille's  church.  Roused  by 
this  profanation,  O'Neil  besieged  them ;  Randolph  was 
defeated  and  slain,  and  Derry  taken.  In  like  manner  he 
drove  another  sacrilegious  garrison  from  Armagh,  leaving 
the  queen  no  fortress  north  of  Dundalk.  In  1564,  de- 
spairing of  his  subjugation,  the  deputy  employed  Piers, 
a  spy,  to  assassinate  him,  Under  pvptence  of  peace,  the 
assassin  met  him  at  McDonnell's,  of  A':!trim,  procu^d  a 


■**'. 


#* 


m^ 


ATTEMPTS    TO    EIJTABLISH    THE 


■  ■    ■  --v'". . 


..-^-      \ 


quarrel,  stabbed  him,  and  brought  his  head,  "  pickled,  in 
a  pipkin,"  to  Dublin  Castle.  For  this  service  Piers  had 
"  a  thousand  marks,"  from  the  queen. 

Thurlogh  was  the  next  O'Neil.     In  1587,  Hugh,  grand- 
son to  Con,  was  duly  elected,  the  last  and  perhaps  the 
ablest  of  h?s  able  family,  who  bore  the  title  of  "  Prince  of 
Ulster." 
Desmond  was   guilty  of  three  offences  against  the 

J  queen's  majesty  —  his  immense  estate,  his  marriage  of  a 
daughter  of  O'Brien^  and  his  hospitality  to  Leverus,  the 
"recusant"  Bishop  of  Kildare.  To  complete  his  guilt, 
he  refused  to  take  the  oaths.  The  Earl  of  Ormond  and 
Sir  William  Drury  were,  in  turn,  commanders  of  a 
southern  army  sent  to  chastise  him.  By  the  former  the 
earl  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  at  Affane,  in  1564, 
sent  to  London,  and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower. '  Exchanged 
to  Dublin  ten  years  afterwards,  to  use  his  influence  over 
his  brothers  then  in  arms,  he  effected  his  escape,  during 

^.  a  hunting  party,  the  following  year,  and,  once  back  amid 
his  people,  he  prepared  for  open  war.  With  this  view 
he  strengthened  himself  by  marriage  with  the  daughter 
of  McCarthy,  (his  first  wife  being  dead,)  made  alliance 
with  other  powerful  neighbcTs,  and  despatched  his  gal- 
lant brother,  James,  (to  whose  fraternal  care  he  owed  his 
liberty,)  to  the  pope  and  the  King  of  Spain.  After  the 
election  of  the  English  dynasty,  this  was  the  first  suc- 
cessful effort  at  an  offensive  alliance  with  a  foreign  power. 
In  Madrid,  James  of  Desmond  was  cordially  received 
by  King  Philip  and  by  the  legate,  Cardinal  Granville. 
His  two  sons  were  placed  at  the  University  of  Alcala, 
and  himself  lodged  in  the  king's  house.  At  this  time, 
the  Netherlands  were  in  arms  against  Spain,  Elizabeth 
privately  abetting  them.  Philip  retaliated  by  alliance 
with  the  Desmonds.  If  he  had  before  conceived  the 
expedition  of  "the  Armada,"  he  now  hastened  his  reso- 
lution ;  and  soon   after  that  memorable  fleet  began  to 

^  grow  beneath  the  hands  of  his  skilful  shipwrights  at 
Cadiz  and  Seville. 

From   Madrid,  in  1580,  James  proceeded  to  Rome, 
where,  on  the  13th  o*  May,  Gregory  XIII.  issued  his 


4  f 


f 


¥ 


■:*T 


PROTESTANT   REFORMATION   IN    IRELAND. 


69 


bull,  granting  to  all  who  would  take  up  arms  undc . 
him  "  the  same  indulgence  granted  to  those  who  fought 
against  the  Turks  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land," 
the  indulgence  to  extend  "  during  the  lifetime  of  James 
and  his  brother  John."*  At  Rome,  under  the  name  of 
Stukely,  was  an  Irish  refugee,  supposed  to  be  a  chief  of 
the  Kavanagh  o/  McMurrcgh  family.  Created  by  Greg- 
ory, Marquis  of  Ross  and  Duke  of  Leinster,  he  had 
command  of  two  thousand  Romans  for  an  invasion  of 
Ireland.  Desmond  was  to  precede  him,  after  a  rapid 
visit  to  France  and  Spain ;  and  accordingly  we  soon  find 
the  successful  emissary  on  the  coast  of  Kerry.  With 
such  troops  as  he  had,  he  marched  towards  Connaught 
to  form  a  junction  with  the  Burkes,  was  intercepted,  and 
mortally  wounded.  Calling  to  him  Dr.  Allan,  afterwards 
cardinal,  his  then  chaplain,  he  confessed  his  sins,  received 
extreme  unction,  and  expired. 

The  Romans,  under  Stukely,  had  put  into  the  Tagus 
just  as  Don  Sebastian  was  departing  on  his  Moorish  expe- 
dition. Allured  probably  by  some  promises  of  future 
aid,  he  accompanied  the  Portuguese  hero  to  the  African 
shore,  and  fell  on  the  bloody  field  of  Alcaquivir,  in  that 
ferocious  miUe  where  Don  Sebastian  and  his  rival, 
Muley  Moloc,  both  perished. 

John,  brother  •f  the  late  James,  and  of  the  earl,  now 
took  the  lead,  and  continued  the  war.  At  Monow,  in 
Limerick,  he  routed  the  English,  under  the  Duke  of  York, 
so  badly,  that  the  Earl  of  Ormond  from  England,  and 
Lord  Deputy  Grey  from  Dublin,  were  ordered  to  Munster 
with  reenforcemerits.  As  a  set-off,  eight  hundred  Italian 
and  Spanish  veterans,  under  Stephen  San  Joseph,  arrived 
from  Spain,  on  the  coast  of  Kerry.  Hearing  of  the 
approach  of  a  powerful  army,  they  fortified  themselves 
in  an  island  called  Oillan  na  Oro,  calling  their  works 
"  Fort  Del  Oro."  The  position  was  a  vital  one,  since  by 
it  Spain  could  command  a  harbor  and  landing-place  in 
Ireland  for  future  operations,  and  San  Joseph  seems 
to   have    made  a  very  resolute   defence.      The   grand 

♦  O'Daly's  History  of  the  Geraldines ;  -where  several  bulls  in  rela- 
ticnn  'M  the  Catholic  wars  of  Ireland  are  givon. 


'^X 


60 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


inquisitor  of  Portugal,  O'Daly,  a  native  of  the  district, 
iand  contemporary  of  the  event,  thus  records  the  siege  of 
Del  Oro :  — 

"  After  the  viceroy  had  invested  the  Golden  Fort  by 
sea  and  land,  and  kept  up  a  continual  fire  on  it  for 
about  forty  days,  i.*e  English  began  to  be  weary  of 
their  fruitless  attempts,  and  to  dread  the  rigors  of  the 
coming  winter.  They  knew,  moreover,  that  they  could 
not  take  up  their  winter  quarters  in  the  open  field 
against  a  garrison  so  well  furnished  with  guns  and 
provisions.  And,  having  maturely  weighed  all  these 
matters,  they  resolved  to  seize  by  fraud  that  which 
their  arms  could  not  achieve. 

"  Having  sent  the  Spaniards  a  flag  of  truce,  they  de- 
manded a  parley.  In  the  Spanish  garrison  there  was 
at  that  moment  an  Irish  cavalier,  named  Plunket,  who 
protested  against  any  overture,  and  vainly  sought  to 
dissuade  San  Joseph  from  visiting  the  English  com- 
mander's camp ;  but  he  was  not  listened  to,  and  San 
Joseph  at  once  proceeded  to  the  viceroy's  quarters, 
bringing  Plunket  with  him  to  act  as  interpreter.  They 
were  received  with  the  greatest  blandness  and  courtesy 
by  Grey,  who  promised  the  Spanish  commandant  the 
most  honorable  terrrs  if  he  would  surrender  the  for- 
tress. Now,  Plunket  interpreted  all  the  viceroy  ad- 
vanced as  the  very  opposite  of  what  he  really  said  — 
namely,  that  the  garrison  had  no  chance  of  escaping 
destruction  if  they  did  not  throw  themselves  altogether 
on  the  mercy  of  the  English,  and  beg  terms  of  him. 
Greatly  did  San  Joseph  marvel  at  this  insolence,  which 

*  denied  him  and  his  honorable  terms ;  as  he  then  held  a 
'  place  which,  in  the  opinion  of  all,  was  deemed  one 

*  of  the  strongest  in  Ireland,  and  amply  provisioned  to 

*  hold  out  many  months'  siege.  Whereon  Plunket  in- 
'  terpreted  that  the  cv/^nmander  had  made  up  his  mind 
'  never  to  surrender  the  garrison ;  and,  consequently,  that 
'  it  was  only  sacrificing  his  men  if  the  viceroy  sat  any 

*  longer   before   it.     But  the  expression   of   Plunket's 

*  features,  and  the  fiery  indignation  of  the  Spaniard, 
^  caused  Grey  to  suspect  that  his  words  had  not  been 


'•4. 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN   IRELAND. 


61 


fairly  interpreted;  and  then  Plunket  was  bound,  hand 
and  foot,  and  committed  to  prison,  another  interpreter 
having  been  procured  to  supply  his  place. 
"  San  Joseph,  having  returned  to  the  fort,  reported  to 
his  men  that  he  had  obtained  the  most  unexception- 
able terms,  and  that,  seeing  the  defence  of  the  fortress 
utterly  impracticable,  he  had  resolved  to  consult  the 
safety  of  his  soldiers.  But  even  in  his  chains  did 
Plunket  cry  out,  *  Treason !  treason  !  Mind  you,  that 
on  the  holding  of  the  fortress  all  the  hopes  of  the  Catho- 
lics depend.  The  very  inclemency  of  the  season  must 
compel  the  viceroy  to  quit  the  field  ere  long.  The 
Geraldines,'  continued  he,  *  are  hastening  to  aid  you 
with  men  and  supplies.  Abandon  your  position,  and 
the  hopes  of  the  Catholics  are  forever  lost!'  Of 
Plunket's  opinion  were  Hercules  Pisa  no  and  the  Duke 
of  Biscay;  but  the  soldiers  gave  willing  ear  to  their 
commander,  who,  preferring  life  to  glory,  forfeited  both ; 
for  the  place  being  surrendered  in  the  month  of  De- 
cember, the  entire  garrison  was  put  to  the  sword,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Spanish  commander,  who  was 
contemptuously  driven  out  of  the  kingdom.  Plunket, 
too,  was  reserved  for  a  more  painful  death.  A  short 
time  after  the  rendition,  he  had  all  his  bones  broken  by 
strokes  of  a  hammer,  and  thus  gave  up  the  ghost. 
Ever  after  did  *  Grey's  faith '  become  an  adage  among 
the  people,  whenever  they  would  speak  of  consum- 
mate perfidy.  Behold  what  value  these  English  at- 
tached to  treaties,  oaths,  and  honor,  which  amongst 
savage  nations  are  esteemed  inviolable." 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  then  in  his  thirty-fifth  year,  and 
already  favored  by  his  queen,  won  his  first  laurels  and 
several  thousands  of  Desmond's  acres,  by  superintend- 
ing the  details  of  the  massacre  after  the  surrender  of  the 
fort.     This  date  is  November  9,  1587. 

In  the  same  year,  John  of  Desmond  was  surprised  and 
slain  near  Imokilly,  and  soon  after  Elizabeth  published 
an  amnesty  to  all  who  were  in  arms,  except  the  brother- 
.fess  earl  and  two  of  his  allies.  The  outlawed  Desmond, 
defeated  in  his  attempts  to  raise  another  insurrection) 
6 


62 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


was  assassinated  in  a  forest  in  Kerry,  in  the  month 
of  December.  He  was  the  last  of  his  line  who  exercised 
sovereignty  over  South  Munster,  from  the  Blackwater  to 
the  Shannon. 

The  fate  of  this  illustrious  family  is  worth  summing 
up.  We  have  seen  the  earl  and  his  two  brothers  die  by 
the  sword.  A  fourth,  Thomas,  had  previously  died  on 
bis  bed.  They  all  had  children  ;  but  one  only  apostatized 
—  the  earl's  son,  from  his  childhood  a  hostage  in  London. 
The  sons  of  James  and  John  being  abroad,  and  the  son 
of  the  earl  a  hostage,  the  son  of  Thomas  was  elected 
chief.  Elizabeth,  thereupon,  released  the  young  earl, 
who,  on  entering  Kilmallock,  his  father's  town,  was 
received  with  acdamations,  the  people  showering  wheat 
and  salt  on  him  from  the  housetops,  emblematic  of 
the  safety  and  plenty  they  wished  him.  The  Sunday 
following,  they  were  surprised  to  see  him  turn  his  steps 
towards  the  heretical  church  from  which  they  strove  "  to 
dehort  him."  *  He  persisted,  however ;  but  on  coming  out, 
they  hooted  and  spat  upon  him.  From  that  day  he 
never  was  followed  or  spoken  of  by  name  in  Desmond. 

Thomas,  taken  captive,  after  a  confinement  of  seven 
years  in  the  Tower  of  London,  died  in  his  chains. 

The  two  sons  of  James,  educated  at  Alcala,  perished' 
in  the  Armada  of  1588,  upon  the  Galway  coast. 

Another  James,  shipwrecked  in  Scotland,  escaped  to 
Spain.  He  was  created  count  there,  at  the  instance  of 
the  grand  inquisitor,  O'Daly,  a  clansman  of  his  ances- 
tors. Charged  with  the  defence  of  a  Spanish  town,  he 
refused  to  surrender  it  to  the  French,  and  was  starved  to 
death.f  His  descendants,  so  late  as  the  middle  of  the 
last  century,  were  historical  men  in  Spain. 

So  perished  this  illustrious  Catholic  family,  whose 
once  fertile  principality,  in  contending  for  the  faith,  was 
"  reduced  to  a  heap  of  carcasses  and  ashes."  J 


*  Pacata  Hibemia,  p.  164.  H 

t  O'Daly's  History  of  the  Geraldines,  p.  179,  (Meehan'a  translation.)^ 
Dufiy,  DubUn.  1847. 
X  Pacata  Hibernia.  ,-^ 


"»»"»>. 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


63 


n.) 


Here  we  give  some  of  the  confiscations  in  the  south 
of  Ireland  which  followed  the  insurrection  of  the  Des- 
monds :  — 


:.r 


Co.  Waterford,  Sir  Christopher  Hutton,    < 

Co.  Cork  and  Waterford,  Sir  W.  Raleigh, 

Co.  Kerry,  Sir  Edward  Denny, 
lb.        Sir  William  Harbart,     - 
lb.         Charles  Harbart, 
lb*        John  Holly,  -        -        - 

lb.         Capt.  Jenkin  Conway, 
lb.         John  Champion,    -         -         - 

Cork,  Sir  Warham  St.  Leger,  - 
lb.     Hugh  Caff,       -         -        - 

.    lb.     Sir  Thomas  Norris, 

lb.     Arthur  Robins,  -        -        -        -        - 

lb.     Artliur  Hide,       ------ 

^  lb.     Francis  Butcher  and  Hugh  Wirth,     - 
lb.     Thomas  Say, 
'lb.     Arthur  Hyde,  -        -        - 

lb.     Edmund  Spencer,         -        -         -         -        - 

Cork  and  Waterford,  Richard  Beacon, 

Limerick,  Sir  William  Courtney,      -        -        j» 
lb.     Francis  Berkly,  Esq.,  -      -        - 

lb.     Robert  Anslow,    ------ 

lb.     Richard  and  Alex.'  Fitton,  -         -        - 

lb.     Edmund  Manwaring,  Esq.,   -         -         -         - 

lb.     Waterford  and  Tipperary,  Sir  Edward  Fitton, 
lb.     Wm.  Trenchard,  Esq.,      -         -        -        - 

lb.     George  Thornton,  Esq.,       -       ,- 
lb.     Sir  George  Bourcher,       -        -        - 
lb.     Henry  Billingsley,  Esq.,       -        -        - 

Inverary,  Thomas,  Earl  of  Ormond,     -        -        - 


Acres. 

10,910 

12,000 
6,000 

13,276 
8,7G8 
4,422 
626 
1,434 
6,000 
6,000 
6,000 
1,800 
5,574 

24,000 
3,778 

11,766 
3,028 
6,000 

10,500 
7,250 
2,599 
3,026 
3,747 

11,515 

12,000 
1,500 

12,880 

11,800 
3,000 


i  205,699 

Thus  a  new  aristocracy  was  created  in  Munster  on 
the  ruins  of  the  old — an  order  in  its  origin  and  nature 
anti-national  and  anti-Catholici  Other  provincial  con- 
fiscations in  the  succeeding  reigns  compleited  ^his  design, 
first  entertained  by  Henry,  and  first  reguMj^3ndertaken 
by  Elizabeth.  The  manifold  evils  which  f^ttli^ed  then, 
and  which  still  follow,  from  such  an  iniquifiO>l^.division 


■;:-^f:'--\y 


B4 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


* 
in*- 


' 


of  the  soil  of  a  populous  island,  have  long  since  made 
the  very  name  of  Irish  landlord  synonymous  with  op- 
pression throughout  the  world. 

While  the  war  against  the  Desmonds  was  raging  in 
the  south,  under  pretence  of  suppressing  rebellion,  no 
one  could  help  seeing  that  in  reality  it  was  directed 
against  the  Catholic  religion.  If  any  had  doubted  the 
real  object,  events  which  quickly  followed  Elizabeth's 
victOiy  soon  convinced  them.  Dermid  0*Hurley,  Arch- 
bishop of  Cashel,  being  taken  by  the  victors,  was  brought 
to  Dublin  in  1582.  Here  the  Protestant  Primate  Loftus 
besieged  him  in  vain,  for  nearly  a  year,  to  deny  the 
pope's  supremacy,  and  acknowledge  the  queen's.  Find- 
ing him  of  unshaken  faith,  he  was  brought  out  for  mar- 
tvrdom,  on  St.  Stephen's  Green,  adjoining  the  city : 
there  he  was  tied  to  a  tree,  his  boots  filled  with  combus- 
tibles, and  his  limbs  stripped  and  smeared  with  oil  and 
alcohol.  Alternately  they  lighted  and  quenched  the  flame 
which  enveloped  him,  prolonging  his  tortures  through 
four  successive  days.  Still  remaining  firm,  before  dawn 
of  the  fifth  day,  they  finally  consumed  his  last  remains 
of  life,  and  left  his  calcined  bones  among  the  ashes  at 
the  foot  of  his  stake.  The  relics,  gathered  in  secret  by 
some  pious  friend?,  were  hidden  away  in  the  half-ruined 
Church  of  St.  Kevin,  near  that  outlet  of  Dublin  called 
Kevinsport.  In  Desmond's  town  of  Kilrnallook  were 
taken  Patrick  O'Hely,  Bishop  of  Mayo,  Father  Cor- 
nelius, a  Franciscan,  and  some  others.  To  extort  from 
them  confessions  of  the  new  faith,  their  thighs  were 
broken  with  hammers,  and  their  arms  crushed  by  levers. 
They  died  without  yielding,  and  the  instruments  of  their 
torture  were  buried  with  them  in  the  Franciscan  con- 
vent at  Askeaton.  The  Most  Reverend  Richard  Creagh, 
Primate  of  all  Ireland,  was  the  next  victim.  Failing  to 
convict  him  in  Ireland  of  the  imputed  crime  of  ^violating 
a  young  woman,  who  herself  exposed  the  calumny,  and 
suffered  for  so  doing,  they  brought  hjm  to  London,  where 
he  is  said  to  have  died  of  poison  on  the  14th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1585.  In  the  same  year,  the  war  of  extermiaation 
was  directed  towards  Ulster. 


4:- 


\ 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


65 


■^ 


Two  great  families,  descended  from  a  common  ances- 
tor, were  pillars  of  the  chnrch  in  the  north.  O'Don- 
nell's,  the  younger,  was  tributary  to  O'Neil's,  the  elder 
branch.  Differences  and  conflicts  more  than  enough  had 
been  between  these  houses  in  past  times ;  but  about  this 
period,  two  chiefs  arose  of  a  more  generous  and  politic 
nature,  who,  for  seven  years  and  upwards  acting  in  con- 
cert, saved  Ulster  and  Connaught  from  the  horrors  re- 
cently inflicted  on  Munster. 

'  Hugh  O'Neil,  grandson  of  Con,  now  of  middle  age, 
was,  in  his  infancy,  carried  away  by  the  English,  and 
educated  at  London.  He  was  of  "  large  sou)  '  "  profound 
dissembling  heart,"  and  "  great  military  skill,"  according 
to  Camden,  the  annalist  of  his  enemies.  No  man  sunly 
had  ever  such  need  to  remember  the  Spartan  maxir  of 
eking  out  the  lion's  with  the  fox's  skin.  Reared  to  be 
used  for  his  country's  division,  he  hoped  to  be  her  liber- 
ator; trusted  as  a  tool,  yet,  while  trusted,  hated,  hi  ^rst 
twenty  years  of  public  life  are  full  of  devices  and  ch  ing'-s 
of  character,  easily  accounted  for,  but  not  to  be  jus- 
tified. From  Leicester  and  Walsingham,  Cecil  and  Ba- 
con, he  had  learned  to  justify  to  his  own  mind  simulation 
and  dissimulation,  to  wait  patiently  for  the  ripening  of 
opportunities,  and  to  trust  implicitly  no  man  but  himself. 
.Hugh  O'Donnell,  surnamed  Rutus,  was  but  twenty 
years  of  age,  when,  after  five  years'  imprisonment  in 
Dublin  Castle,  he  effected  an  escape,  and  made  his  way 
undiscovered  to  his  home.  From  his  earliest  youth,  the 
greatest  expectations  were  entertained  i  ^Ister  of  this 
chief;  his  valor,  comeliness,  and  chivalry  jung  him  for 
popular  leadership,  as  much  as  the  wisdom  and  science 
of  O'Neil.  The  one  supplied  what  was  defective  in  the 
other,  and  when  their  several  clans  chose  them  as  chiefs, 
and  thev  pledged  a  life-long  .fealty  to  each  other  in  the 
halls  of  Dungannon,  the  hopes  of  the  northern  Catho- 
lics rose  over  all  obstacles. 

While  as  yet  O'Neil  was  in  London  court,  and  O'Don- 
nell in  Dublin  Castle,  King  Philip's  ships  were  tossing 
in  the  white  waves  of  Biscay.     The  Armada  was  partly 
intended  for  Irejiand,  and  the  spirit  that  manned  it  with 
■*  6*  ""• 


■  if 


66 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


'I 


SO  many  noble  cavaliers  was,  in  part,  inspired  by  Irish 
preachers  and  writers  at  Madrid,  Salamanca,  Coimbra, 
and  Lisbon.  Many  of  these  exiles  were  companions 
of  the  voyage — the  young  Geraldine,  from  Alcala;  Don- 
nell  Kavanagh,  (called  "  Spaniagh,"  or  the  Spaniard ;) 
Florence  Conroy,  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  and  many  ec- 
clesiastics, secular  and  regular^  sailed  in  the  expedition 
of  1588,  and  in  the  second  expedition  in  1589.  The 
wreck  of  this  fleet,  and  the  capture  of  some  stray 
ships  knocking  about  the  English  Channel,  are  familiar 
to  all.  English  patriotism  has  dwelt  for  three  hundred 
years  on  the  tale,  and  repeated  it  with  every  possible 
embellishment.  On  the  west  coast  of  Ireland  thirteen 
great  ships  and  three  thousand  men  were  lost,  including 
the  vice  admiral,  Alphonso  de  Leria,  a  natural  son  of 
King  Philip,  a  nephew  of  Cardinal  Granville,  and  the 
Geraldines.  The  expedition  of  the  following  year  fared 
no  better,  though  less  lives  were  lost.  Archbishop  Con- 
roy escaped  back  to  Spain,  where  he  lived  for  some  years, 
until,  under  the  viceroyalty  of  Albert  and  Isabeiia,  he 
removed  to  the  Netherlands,  and  founded  the  Irish  col- 
lege at  Lou  vain.  There  he  presided,  wrote  his  commen- 
taries on  St.  Augustine,  established  an  Irish  press, 
from  which  he  issued  devotional  and  catechetical  works 
"  For  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of  the  Gael,"  and  there 
his  ashes  remain  near  the  high  altar  of  the  chapel  dedi- 
cated to  St  Anthony  of  Padua.  He  was  an  active  pro- 
moter of  both  expeditions. 

The  wreck  of  the  Spanish  Armadas  of  '88  and  '89 
retarded  the  projects  of  Hugh  O'Neil.  He,  however, 
made  the  best  use  of  certain  Spanish  officers,  who  es- 
caped taDungannon,  by  opening  through  them  a  formal 
correspondence  with  King  Philip.  Cautious  and  artful 
as  he  was  bold,  he  had  previously  obtained  the  consent 
of  Elizabeth  to  maintain  six  companies  of  foot,  which 
he  kept  constantly  disbanding  and  recruiting  as  fast  as 
they  acquired  discipline.  He  also  gradually  imported 
military  stores,  and  extended  his  confederacy,  so  that  by 
1593  he  had  his  plans  tolerably  well  matured. 

By  design,  or  accide.it,  O'Domiell  begaa  the  war. 


1 

■-  :V 

il         ^      ..                            ;^: 
* 

%' 

,--  ;,  -''^ 

r      T 

■f* 

!    • 

T 

*- 

-    *■     -         ,, 

» 

>■« 

0, 

, 

4m- ■ 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IREL^  .D. 


67 


'89 


jver. 


rar. 


Aided  by  his  suffragans,  McGuire,  O'Rorke,  and  the 
McSweeneys,  he  drove  the  English  garrisons  out  of  Stra- 
bane  and  Enniskillen.  He  then  carried  the  war  into 
Connaught,  took  Sligo,  defeated  an  English  army  among 
the  Leitrim  Mountains,  and  made  tolerably  clean  work 
of  it  with  all  their  garrison  towns  as  far  south  as  Athlone. 
During  this  campaign,  O'Neil  acted,  to  admiration,  the 
part  of  mediator;  but  in  the  coming  spring,  he  resolved 
to  clear  his  territory  of  the  garrisons,  after  O'Donnell's 
fashion. 

From  the  towers  of  Dungannon,  the  broad  white  flag^ 
with  the  blazon  of  the  red  hand,  was  spread,  amid  the 
acclamations  of  a  great  gathering,  in  the  spring  of 
1594.  A  detachment  simultaneously  advanced  on  the 
English  fort  of  Portmore,  near  Coleraiue,  took  and 
razed  it  to  the  corner  stone.  Advancing  through  Cavan, 
O'Neil  laid  siege  to  Monaghon,  resolving  to  carry  the 
wai:  towards  Dublin.  Russell,  the  new  viceroy,  deter- 
mined to  negotiate,  and  sent  forward,  as  queen's 
commissioners.  Sir  Henry  Wallop  and  Chief  Justice 
Gardiner.  O'Neil  treated  with  them  in  a  plain  between 
both  armies,  but  a  temporary  truce  was  the  only  result. 
This  truce,  made  to  be  broken,  gave  time  for  Sir 
John  Norreys  to  arrive  from  England  with  a  picked 
body  of  Flemings  and  Brabanters,  and  for  O'Donnell,  on 
the  other  hand,  to  come  up  from  Connaught.  At  Clon- 
tibret  the  first  regular  battle  was  fought,  Norreys  defeated, 
the  chief  of  his  "  Methian  "  cavalry,  Seagrave,  killed  by 
O'Neil's  own  hand,  and  the  royal  standard  captured. 

The  war,  thus  commenced,  lasted  for  seven  years 
almost  without  interruption.  From  the  victory  of  Clon- 
tibret  to  the  defeat  before  Kinsale,  "the  two  Hughs" 
were  the  Achilles  and  Ulysses  of  the  Catholic  cause.  In 
1596,  they  received  Don  Alonzo  Copii?,  who  brought 
them  some  arms  and  ammunition  from  Spain ;  the  same 
year  O'Neil  retook  Armagh ;  in  '97,  De  Burgh,  a  new 
deputy,  but  an  old  soldier,  marched  northward  with  a 
great  army,  and  despatched  Sir  Conyers  Clifford  to  the 
north-west ;  O'Donnell  routed  Clifford  with  immense  loss 
in  J^eitrim;  another  detachment  was  cut  to  pieces  at 


NV 


'TIS' 


/■■« 


^' 


68 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


**:. 


•f- 


i 


Tyrrell's  Pass, by  Tyrrell  and  O'Connor;  while  at  Drum- 
fluich,  on  the  Blackwater,  the  united  Irish  forces 
routed  the  main  army  with  heavy  loss,  the  Lords  De 
Burgh  and  Kildare,  Sir  Francis  Vaughn,  and  other  lead- 
ing officers  being  among  the  slain.  A  fresh  store  of 
English  standards  and  arms  were  forwarded  as  trophies 
to  Dungannon  and  Donegal. 

The  chief  Irish  victory  of  the  war  was  that  won  at 
the  "  Yellow  Ford,"  on  the  little  river  Avon  more,  in 
Armagh.  It  was  fought  the  10th  of  August,  1598.  Mar- 
shal Bagenal  commanded  for  the  queen,  O'Neil  for  the 
Catholics.  "  Two  thousand  five  hundred  English  were 
slain,  including  twenty-three  superior  officers,  besides 
lieutenants  and  ensigns.  Twelve  thousand  gold  pieces, 
thirty-four  standards,  all  the  musical  instruments  and 
cannon,  together  with  a  long  train  of  provision  wagons," 
were  taken.  Fifteen  hundred  prisoners  were  disarmed 
and  marched  to  Dublin;  the  Catholics  buried  all  the 
dead,  as  well  foes  as  friends.  They  had  only  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty  killed  and  six  hundred  wounded.*  This 
was  the  most  glorious  day  of  that  heroic  effort  against 
the  heresy  and  policy  of  Elizabeth. 

Warmed  by  these  tidings  from  the  north,  the  whole 
nation  was  stirred  with  emulation.  Owe  i  O' Moore, 
son  of  Rory,  the  victim  of  Bellingham,  won  back,  by 
the  strong  arm,  two  thirds  of  Leix,  as  O'Connor  did  the 
greater  half  of  Offally ;  Feach  McHugh  O'Byrne,  of 
Glendalough,  backed  by  clan  Kavanagh,  rose  at  the 
same  time,  defeated  and  slew  Sir  Dudley  Bagenal  and 
Heron,  constable  of  Leighlin ;  and  again,  in  1599, 
routed  th.e  Earls  of  Essex  and  Southampton,  half  way 
between  Arklow  and  Enniscorthy,  pursued  them  forty 
miles  to  Dublin,  and  razed  the  fort  at  Crumlin,  within 
two  miles  of  the  capital. 

Even  desolated  Munster  raised  her  head  once  more. 
A  collateral  heir  of  the  Desmonds  was  made  earl  by 
O'Neil,  to  whom   he  did  homage;  and  except  a  few 


*  Mitchel's  Life  of  Hugh  O'Neil,  p.  144,  where  the  several  authorities 
are  quoted.  » 


»"- 


\  *'.^ 


■"**' 


•«a'. 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


I  ore. 

by 

few 


strong  points,  Munster  was,  for  the  time,  restored  to  the 
right  owners.  In  Connaught  the  English  power  was 
also  much  reduced,  and  Elizabeth  spent  a  sad  Christ- 
mas in  1598,  thinking  how  she  should  make  one  last 
effort  to  regain  Ireland.  In  a  justifiable  cause,  the 
indomitable  will  of  this  woman  would  have  been  as  admi- 
rable as  that  of  Isabella  of  Castile,  in  her  wars  against 
the  Moors,  '.a  century  earlier.  Very  different  was  Eliza- 
beth, the  Protestant,  from  Isabella,  the  Catholic.  Isabella 
was  a  pious,  gentle,  affectionate  wife  and  mother ;  she 
loved  learning,  and  hated  error ;  but  even  the  errors  of 
paganism  she  rather  strove  to  cure  than  to  punish. 
Elizabeth,  boastful  of  her  virginity,  was  of  notoriously 
lax  life ;  she  was  intolerant  of  all  belief  in  any  other 
supremacy  than  her  own,  while  she  countenanced  most 
of  the  immoralities  and  heresies  of  the  day.  Elizabeth 
and  Isabella  loved  learning,  and  were  indefatigable  in 
enterprise;  but  in  all  things  else  Anne  Boleyn  was 
hardly  less  inferior  to  Queen  Katharine  than  her 
daughter  was  to  poor  Katharine's  celebrated  mother. 
^  The  winter  of  1598  was  spent  by  the  English  states- 
men in  considering  the  next  Irish  campaign.  The 
queen's  favorite,  Essex,  was  to  command  in  chief,  with 
the  most  experienced  aids.  Cecil  and  Bacon  prepared 
his  "  policie."  He  wanted  for  nothing  the  queen  could 
give.  On  the  15th  of  April,  1599,  he  disembarked 
20,000  chosen  men  at  Dublin,  where  the  previous  com- 
mander, Ormond,  met  him  with  a  force  of  10,000,  or 
15,000.  One  historian  estimates  the  entire  Catholic  forces 
at  29,352 ;  another  sets  them  down  at  20,592.  Of  these 
6000  were  with  O'Neil  in  the  north,  and  4000  with 
O'Donnell  in  the  west.  A  Spanish  ship,  with  arms  for 
2000  men,  arrived  safely  in  Donnegal,  with  news  of  the 
death  of  King  Philip,  and  assurances  of  cordial  aid 
from  the  young  king,  Philip  III. 

This  young  king  seems  to  have  meant  his  message. 
He  despatched  Don  Martin  de  la  Cerda,  and  Mathew  of 
Oviedo,  Catholic  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  to  O'Neil.  They 
bore  him  an  indulgence  for  all  who  would  fight  against 
England ;  "  a  phoenix  plume,"  blessed  by  Pope  Sixtus, 


^w 


'--4^ 


■Wki 


m 


s™^- 


■w 


..-■* 


xr  *  ■ 


70 


_.4J         ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


'^ 


r 


1) 


v.,  and  22,000  golden  pieces  for  his  chest.  Taking 
advantage  of  a  six  weeks'  truce  with  Essex,  and  accom- 
paniid  by  the  Spanish  ambassadors,  O'Neii  made  a 
pi)^-:Image  from  Dungannon,  in  Tyrone,  to  Holy  Cross, 
in  Tipperary,  in  which  they  were  joined  by  all  the  army, 
the  cavalry  mounted,  and  the  footmen  armed.  Here 
the  Southern  chiefs,  the  remains  of  the  Desmonds,  and 
Florence  McCarthy,  created  by  him  McCarthy  More, 
met  O'Neii,  and  here  it  was  arranged  that  the  promised 
Spanish  auxiliaries  should  land  in  Munster,  where  they 
were  most  needed.  From  Holy  Cross,  the  Spanish 
convoys  returned  home ;  and,  according  to  agreement,  a 
Spanish  fleet,  of  6  galleons,  11  armed  vessels,  about  30 
storeships,  manned  by  1500  sailors,  and  carrying  6000 
troops,  sailed  the  next  spring,  under  the  command  of 
Don  John  d'Aguila,  for  Munster.  After  losing  a  squad- 
ron off  Corunna,  he  landed,  with  3400  men,  at  Einsale, 
and  garrisoned  the  town. 

Essex,  having  wasted  some  weeks  with  protocols,  sud- 
denly returned  to  court,  and  was  disgraced.  He  was 
succeeded  by  a  very  different  deputy,  Christopher  Blount, 
Lord  Mountjoy.  This  war  had  already  cost  Elizabeth 
£3,400,000^ — an  immense  sum,  as  money  then  rated.* 
Mountjoy  was  instructed  to  succeed  —  to  end  the  war 
by  any  means.  He  was  the  ablest  enemy  the  Catholic 
chiefs  had  yet  to  cope  with. 

The  new  viceroy  marched  to  the  borders  of  U  jter,  and 
skirmished  with  O'Neii  at  the  pass  of  Moira  and  about 
Newry.  Having  then  strongly  garrisoned  Newry,  Dun- 
dalk,  and  Carlingford,  he  suddenly  retreated.  In  fact, 
this  movement  was  a  feint  to  occupy  "  the  two  Hughs," 
while  Sir  Henry  Docwra,  with  a  vast  fleet,  entered 
Lough  Foyle,  seized  and  fortified  Derry,  thus  planting 
■i.  garrison  and  commanding  a  harbor  in  their  rear, 
{.laving  effected  this  manoeuvre,  a  quasi  toleration  was 
permitted  the  Anglo-Irish  Catholics  about  Dublin,  and 
every  effort  was  made  to  seducfc-  the  members  of  the 


*  Hume's  History  of  England.      The  single  campaign  of  1599  cost 
Elizabeth  £600,000  —  worth  then  ten  times  Its  present  value. 


f    . 


/    . 


■^- 


* 


PROTEs*TANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


71 


■i 


Catholic  confederacy  one  by  one  out  of  that  league. 
A  queen's  O'Neil,  O'Donnell,  and  McGuire  were  set  up,  ' 
O'Connor,  in  Munster,  was  induced  to  believe,  by  a" 
forged  letter,  that  the  new  Desmond  had  betrayed  him  ; 
and  so  in  his  wrath,  he  delivered  Desmond  to  the  com- 
mon enemy:  Feagh  McHugh  and  Donnell  Spaniagh 
were  feasted  in  Dublin  Castle,  "  the  dishes  being  brought 
in  by  colonels  and  captains ;"  O'More,  of  Leix,  was  killed 
in  a  skirmish,  leaving  an  infant  son,  called  Rory,  or  Roger 
O'Moore;  the  uxorious  McCarthy  More  was  seduced 
into  submission  by  his  English  wife,  "who  refused  to 
come  to  his  bed  till  he  made  peace  with  her  majestic.'* 

Intrigue  was  thus  at  its  work  in  Leinster  and  Mun- 
ster when  Don  John  and  his  Spaniards  reached  Kinsale. 
Mountjoy  immediately  issued  orders  for  the  queen's  troops 
to  concentrate  in  Cork.  The  design  of  this  viceroy 
was  to  reduce  the  Catholics  by  famine  and  pestilence 
rather  than  the  sword.  A  few  entries  from  the  memoirs 
of  the  campaigns  of  Mountjoy,  by  himself  and  his  offi- 
cers, will  show  how  systematically  this  murderous  policy 
was  pursued. 

*  1 600.  "  Captain  Flower  was  sent  into  Carbry  with 
"  1200  foot  and  100  horse,  and  burned  and  preyed  as  far 
«  as  Ross  I "  —  Cox,  425. 

1600.  "  On  the  28th  of  May,  the  president  entered 
"  Clanwilliam,  and  John  Burk  refused  to  submit  person- 
"  ally,  pretending  that  his  priests  taught  him  that  it  was 
"  a  mortal  sin  so  to  doe.  The  president,  disdaining  that 
"  frivolous  answer,  the  next  day  burned  and  destroyed  his 
"houses,  corn,  and  country!  and  then,  on  th  ;  30th  of 
"  May,  Burk  <::ame  aii'l  Bubmitted." —  Cox,  426. 

1600.  "  The  president  sent  Maurice  Stack,  with  50 
"  men,  to  Kerry,  where  he  surprsied  Liscaghan  Castle, 
"  burned  Adare,  and  preyed  t' .  country!" —  6W,  429. 

"  The  same  day  fiftie-eight  were  executc^I  in  the  market 
"  place ! " —  Pacata  Hibernia<,  574. 

"  The  Earie  of   Clanricard  had  many  faire  escapes, 


% 


*  Yindicise  Hibemicse,  pp.  74,  76. 


■*!■'■ 


,;i5^$vM 


72 


■'*■ 


ATVEMPTS    TO    ESTABMSH    THK 


h-*^-^ 


4': 


"  being  shot  through  his  gainients,  and  no  man  did  bloody 
"hia  sword  more  than  his  lordship  did  that  day,  and 
"would  not  sutfer  any  man  to  take  any  of  the  Irish 
"prisoners,  but  bade  them  kill  the  rebels!"  —  Idem,  421. 

"  Whome,  thor.gh  until  hir  majesties  pleasure  kiiowne 
"  he  did  forbeare,  yet  the  residue  he  spared  not ;  but  a'^ier 
"  their  deserts,  he  executed  ia  ir!iinit  numbers."  — iic;/<i.".- 
shed,  vi.  370.  r"  ,^;        * 

"  The  president,  therefore,  as  v.  3II  to  debarre  these 
"  stniglers  fri)m  releefe,  as  to  prevent  all  raeuiies  oi  suc- 
"  cours  to  Osulevan,  if  hee  should  return  with  new  forces, 
"cattsfed  all  the  county  of  Kerry  and  Desmond,  Boare, 
"Ban try,  and  Carbery  to  be  left  absolutely  waiHed."  — 
Pacala  Ilibernia,  680,  :^ 

"  'i'hev  pas8«d  the  Kext  moT-uing  over  the  bridge  of 
"  Adare,  a:id  b  /  the  wnic,  thoy  burned  and  spoiled  the 
"countrie."  —  IloUln.'/iedf  vL  429. 

"  On  the  Ji^t  o(  h^:>j,  Ciptain  Taaf  took  a  prey  of  300 
"  c'>ws,  and  many  !^>hcep,  and  on  the  second,  Captain  John 
"  Ba*ry  brom^ht  in  another  prey  of  500  cows,  800  sheep, 
"  and  300  garrons ;  and  on  the  8th,  300  men  were,  in  the 
"night,  foeui;  to  Artully  to  meet  Sir  Charles  Wiimott's 
"forces,  and  to  conduct  them  to  the  camp;  which  was 
^'  eifected,  to  the  great  grief  of  the  rebels,  and  a  prey  of 
•'4000  cows  were  taken  in  Jveragh." —  Cox,  450. 
^  '^  Upon  the  5th  of  May,  heie  secretly  dispatched  a 
"  pa;  ie  of  meh,  which  burnt  and  spoyled  all  the  countrey, 
"  and  returned  v/ith  foure  thousand  cowes,  besides  sheepe 
;^f'and  garrons."  —  Pacata  Hibernia^  538. 

"  The  lord  justice  marched  a  few  miles  in  Mac  Aulies 
"countrie,  spoiling,  defacing,  and  burning  the  same."  — 
Hollinsked,  vi.  432. 

"  On  the  31st  of  October,  the  English  took  a  prey  of 
"  2000  sheep,  and  1000  garrons,  from  O' Sullivan  and  the 
"  Irish,  who  fought  very  smartly  for  their  cattel,  so  that 
any  were  slain  on  either  side." —  Cox,  453. 

"  They  tooke  also  from  thence  certaine  cr 
"  sheepe,  which  were  reserved  there  as  in  a  sure  st 
"  and  put  the  churles  ■  the  sword  that  inhaHH.ef.' 
— 'Pacata  Hibernia,  <     ^,  >  '  #    ., 


(( 


«   and 

:<>use, 

herein." 


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fBOTESTANT 


REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


73 


.  I 


**  Great  were  the  services  which  those  garrisons  _,per- 
" formed;  for  Sir. Richard  Pierce  and  Captain  George 
"  Flower,  with  their  troopes,  left  neither  corn,  nor  home, 
"  nor  house,  unburnt,  between  Kinsale  and  Ross.  Cap- 
"tain  Roger  Hurvie,  who  had  with  him  his  brother,  Cap- 
"tain  Gawen  Harvie,  Captain  Francis  Slingsbie,  Captain 
"  William  Stafford,  and  also  the  companys  of  the  Lord 
*'  Barry  and  the  treasurer,  with  the  president's  horse,  did 
"  the  like  between  Ross  and  Bantry."  —  Idem,  645. 

"  Some  were  slain  of  the  lord  governor's  men,  though 
"  not  so  many,  amongst  whom  Captain  Zouche's  trum- 
"  peter  was  one ;  which  so  grieved  the  lord  general  that 
"  he  commanded  all  the  houses,  towns,  and  villages,  in 
"that  country,  and  about  Lefinnen,  which  in  any  way 
"  did  belong  to  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  or  any  of  his  friends 
"  and  followers,  to  be  burned  and  spoiled ! "  —  Ilollinshed, 
vi.  425. 

"  Hereupon,  Sir  Charles,  with  the  English  regiments, 
"overran  all  Beare  and  Bantry,  destroying  all  that  they 
"  could  find  meet  for  the  relief  of  men,  so  as  that  country 
"  was  wholly  wasted  I "  —  Pacata  Hibernia,  659. 

"  The  next  dale  following,  being  the  twelfe  of  March, 
"the  lord  justice  and  the  earle  divided  their  armie  into 
"  two  several  compani«|i  by  two  ensigns  and  three  togeth- 
"  er,  the  lord  justice  taking  the  one  side,  and  the  other 
'"  taking  the  other  side  of  Slewlougher,  and  so  they 
"searched  the  woods,  burned  the  towne,  and  killed 
"  that  dale  about  foure  hundred  men,  and  returned  the 
"same  night  with  all  the  cattell  which  they  found  that 
"  daie : 

"  And  the  said  lords,  being  not  satisfied  with  this 
"daie's  service^  they  did  likewise  the  next  daie  divide 
"  themselves,  spoiled  and  consumed  the  whole  countrie 
"  until  it  was  night! "  —  HoUinsked,  vi.  430. 

"  Th'^v      iS./d  ovei  the  same  into  Conilo,  where  the 
"lord   I 'Mice   anu   t^^e   earl   of  Ormand    divided   their 
com;  jtiies,  and  as  rhey  marchec";  they  burned  and  de- 
"  strc'ved  the  coui.try."  — -  Ibid. 

"  He  divided  his  companies  into  foare  parts,  and  they 
**  entered  into  foure  severall  places  c  t  the  wood  at  one 


# 


# 


:,;xv"rii-^-'Si  ^i^. 


.■^■',.  ,L.-.- yii.JS^^,. 


.M1 


r 


74 


AfTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


1^- 


<*  instant;  and  by  that  meanes  they  scowred  the  wood 
"  throughout,  in  killing  as  manuie  as  they  tooke,  but  the 
"  residue  fled  into  the  mountains."  —  HoUinshedy  vi.  452. 

"  There  were  some  of  the  Irish  taken  prisoners,  that 
"  offered  great  ransomes;  but  presently  upon  their  bring- 
"  ing  to  the  campe,  they  were  hanged."  —  Pacata  Hiber- 
nia,  431. 

"  Then  dividing  into  three  parts  marched  to  Dingle, 
"  and  as  they  went,  they  drove  the  whole  country  before 
"  them,  whereby  they  took  a  prey  of  eight  thousand  cows, 
"  besides  garrons,  sheep^  Sfc^  and  slew  a  great  many  people^ 
"  and  had  slain  more  but  that  Sir  William  Winter  gave 
"  many  of  them  protections."  —  Cox,  366. 

"  One  hundred  and  forty  of  his  gallow-glasses  had  the 
**  misfortune  to  be  intercepted  and  made  prisoners;  and  as 
''  intelligence  was  received  that  the  rebels  advanced  and 
"  prepared  to  give  battle,  Skeffington,  with  a  barbarous 
"  precaution,  ordered  these  wretches  to  be  slaughtered ;  an 
"  order  so  effectually  executed,  that  but  one  of  all  the  num,' 
«  ber  escaped  the  carnage."  —  Leland,  ii.  181. 

"  Capteine  Macworth  recouvered  the  possession  of  the 
"  whole,  and  did  put  ff  lie  to  the  sword,  of  which  nineteene 
"  were  found  to  be  Spaniards ;  and  six  others  he  tooke, 
"  whereof  one  was  a  woman,  ibhich  were  executed  in 
"  the  campe!  None  were  saved  that  dale  but  onlie  the 
"  capteine,  Julio,  whom  the  lord  justice  kept  for  certeine 
**  considerations  two  or  three  dales :  but  in  the  end  he 
"  was  hanged,  as  the  rest  were  before  him."  —  Hollinsaed, 
vi.  431. 

"  Sir  Charles  Wilmot,  with  his  regiment,  was  sent 
"  againe  into  Kerry,  (which  countrey  having  therein  great 
"  store  of  corne  and  cattle,  would  otherwise  haue  beene 
"  left  open  to  the  rebels'  reliefe,)  with  direction  to  remoue 
"  all  the  inhabitants,  with  their  goods  and  cattle,  over  the 
"  mountaine  into  the  small  county  of  Limerick,  and 
"  such  corne  as  could  not  be  presently  reaped  and  con- 
"  vaied,  (as  aforesaid,)  hee  laas  commanded  to  burne  and 
"  spoyle  the  same.^^  —  Pacata  Hibernia,  582. 

"  From  this  he  tooke  his  journie  towards  Cor^:  ,  and 
"in  his  waie  at  Drunf.ning  he  tooke  a  preie  of  ^ . 


II 


«t 


u 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


75 


;nt 
;at 
[ne 
lue 
Ihe 
[nd 
)n- 
\nd 

Ind 


"  thousand  five  hundred  kine  or  cotoes,  which  were  all 
"  driven  and  sent  nnto  Corke."  —  Hollinshed,  vi.  425. 

"  When  after  great  trauels  they  had  marvelouslie  wasted 
"  and  spoiled  the  countries  they  appointed  to  march  to 
"  Carigofoile,  and  to  laie  siege  to  tne  same."  —  Hollinshed^ 
vi.  430. 

"  They  wasted  and  forraged  the  countrey^  so  as  in  a 
"  small  time  it  was  not  able  to  giue  the  rebels  any  reliefe  ! 
"  having:  spoiled  and  brought  into  their  garrisons  the  most 
*'  part  of  their  corne,  being  nev)ly  reaped^ — Pacata  Hiber' 
nia,  584. 

1600.  «  On  the  12th  of  August,  Mountjoy,  with  560 
"  foot,  and  60  horse,  and  some  voluntiers,  niarcht  to 
"  Naas,  and  thence  to  Philipstown,  and  in  his  way  took 
"  a  prey  of  200  cows,  700  gu^rons,  and  500  sheep,  and 
"  so  burning  ihe  country  !  "  —  Cox,  428. 

1600.  "Sir  Arthur    Lavage,   governour   of  Connagh, 
"  designed  to   meet  the  lord  lieutenant,  but  could  not  • 
"  accomplish  it,  though  he  preyed  and  spoiled  the  country 
"  as  far  as  he  came  !  "  —  Ibid. 

1600.  ';  Mountjoy  staid  in  this  country  till  the  23d  of 
"  AugustJ  and  destroyed  10,000/.  w^,tk  of  corn,  and  slew  i 
"  TMire  or  less  of  the  r^els  every  day  I     One  t^onagh,  a  | 
"  notorious  rebel,  was  taken  and  hanged,  and  a  prey  of. 
"  1000  cows,  500  garrons,  and  many  sheep,  was  taken  by 
"  Sir  Oliver  Lambert,  in    Daniel  Spany's  countrey,  with 
"  the  slaughter  of  a  great  many  rebels  !  " — Ibid. 

1601.  "  Then  he  wasted  Sleugh-Art,  a  little  country  in 
"  Tir-Oen,  full  of  woods  and  bogs,  about  fifteen  miles 
«  Imig .'"—  Camden,  638. 

1601.  "  It  was  not  long  before  he  did  invade  Macdnf?'' 
"  country,  and  took  a  prey  of  1000  cows,  and  burned 
"  what  he  could  not  carry  avmy  1 "  —  Cox,  436. 

1601.  "  The  deputy  sent  Out  Sir  Henry  Danvers,  with 
*  300  foot,  to  burn  about  20  houses,  which  he  effectedP  ^ 
Cox,  439. 

D' Aguila,  p  soldier  of  the .'  hool  on  which  the  weafth  of 
Mexico  an;^    •     defeats   in  ihe  Netherlandi   had   done 
enervatinj;^  w  tk,  despatched  messengers  for  aid  to  O'Don-^ 
ell  and  O'Neil.     Both  had  now  invaders  within  their 


^.         '-"^  ;.^. 


■:£ii 


76 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


borders,  in  Derry,  in  Portmore,  in  Lifford,  in  Donegal, 
and  in  Newry,  but  they  raised  their  several  sieges,  and 
marched  southward  to  relieve  their  ally.  Mountjoy  was 
already  there  with  15,000  rrori,  while  Sir  Robert  Levis- 
ton,  with  ten  English  si,.  .1  kaded  the  coast.  O'Don- 
nel  with  2500,  and  o  .Veil  vVith  4000  men,  proposed  to 
combine  at  Holy  Crosu,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  southern 
Celts,  strike  for  Spain  and  the  Catholic  faith.  Early  in  De- 
cember, they  had  formed  a  junction,  and  with  about  6500 
men,  came  in  sight  of  "^he  enemy.  T*^'  Spanish  flag 
still  flew  on  the  ramparts,  and  tlie  jKnglirfh  hag  in  the 
plain.  O'Neil's  plan  was  to  besiege  the  besiegers  in 
their  camp,  to  cut  them  oft'  from  the  country,  as  the 
town  did  frr  i  the  sea,  and  thus  compel  their  surrender. 
A  skirmish,  however,  on  the  night  of  the  24th,  accident- 
ally drew  on  a  general  engagement,  and  Christmas 
day  beheld  the  triumph  of  the  heretical  forces.  D'Aguila 
remained  within  his  walls,  not  even  attempting  a  sally, 
and  O^Neil's  600^;,  outnumbered,  were  ^orced  to  retreat. 
On  the  last  day  of  the  month,  Don  John,  according  to 
treaty,  evacuated  Kinsale,  bringing  away  to  Spain  hit, 
colors,  arms,  and  money— -every  thing  indeed  but  his 
reputation.  ^ 

The  end  is  a.  tragedy :  O'Donnell  went  to  Spain  to 
make  a  new  alliance  and  refute  the  inventions  of  d'Aguila, 
but  died  of  fever  in  the  royal  palace  of  Simancas,  before 
his  mission  had  come  to  any  head.  He  was  at  the  time 
but  thirty  years  old.  O'Sullivan  and  other  brave  Mun- 
ster  chiefs  followed  him,  where  the  young  O'Sullivan 
Beare  commanded  a  ship  of  war  for  Philip  IH.,  and 
wrote  his  Catholic  History  of  Ireland. 

The  best  of  the  Leinster  chiefs,  t'eagh  McHugb,  died 
at  an  extreme  age,  after  forty  years  of  noble  exploits. 
Donnell  Spaniagh  took  a  pensio  i  from  Mounljoy,  and 
eat  his  bitter  bread  beside  Dub'I     Uas+le. 

The  heir  of  O'Moore,  an  infaiii  in  pain,  was  nursing 
against  the  day  of  wrath,  1641. 

O'j^eil  was  surrounded  by  foes  on  every  side,  who 
simultaneously  advanced  upon  Dungannon.  His  biog- 
rapher tell*  the  sad  story  of  their  progress :  — 


ti 


'  li 

u 
it 


V 


PROTESTANT    REronMA.TION    IN    IRELAND. 


77 


*'  Chichester  marched  fron  Carrick Fergus,  and  crossed 
the  Bjinn  at  Toome :  Docvvra  and  his  Derry  troops 
advanced  by  way  of  Dungiven  ;  and  Mountjoy  himself 
by  Dungannon  and  Killetrough  ;*  —  and  wide  over  the 
pleasant  fields  of  Ulster  trooped  their  bands  of  ill- 
omened,  red-coated  reapers,  assiduous  in  < cutting  that 
saddest  of  all  recorded  harvests.  Morning  after  morn- 
ing the  sun  rose  bright,  and  the  birds  made  music,  as 
they  are  wont  to  do  of  a  summer's  morning  '  on  tre 
fair  hills  of  holy  Ireland;'  —  and  forth  went  the  labor- 
ers by  troops,  with  their  fatal  sickles  in  their  hands ; 
and  some  cut  down  the  grain,  and  trampled  it  into  the 
earth,  and  left  it  rotting  there ;  and  some  drove  away 
the  cattle,  and  either  slaughtered  them  in  herds,  leaving 
their  carcasses  to  breed  pestilence  and  death,  or  drove 
them  for  a  spoil  to  the  southward ;  and  some  burned 
the  houses  and  the  corn-stacks,  and  blotted  the  sun  with 
the  smoke  of  their  conflagrations ;  and  the  summer 
song  of  birds  was  drowned  by  the  wail  of  helpless 
children  and  the  shrieks  of  the  pitiful  women.  All  this 
summer  and  autumn  the  havoc  was  continued,  until 
from  O'Cahan's  country,  as  Mountjoy's  secretary  de- 
scribes it,  *we  have  none  left  to  give  us  opposition, 
nor  of  late  have  seen  any  but  dead  carcasses,  merely 
^  starved  for  want  of  meat.' 

"  The  deputy  had  taken  Magherlowny  and  Ennis- 
*'  laughli  1,  two  principal  forts  and  arsenals  of  O'Neil's, 
"  and  now,  about  the  end  of  August,  he  penetrated  to 
*'  Tuliough-oge,  the  seat  of  the  clan  O'Hagan,  and  broke 
"  in  pieces  that  ancient  stone  chair  in  which  the  princes 
"  of  Ulster  had  been  inaugurated  for  many  a  rentury.f 
*'  Castle-Roe  also  soon  became  untenable;  and  ()  Neil, 
"  retiring  slowly,  like  a  hunted  beast  keeping  the  dogs  at 
"  bay,  retreated  to  the  deep  woods  and  thickets  of  Glan- 
"  con-keane,:j:  the  name  of  that  valley  through  which  the 


*  Moryson.  'i 

t  Stuart,  the  historian  of  Armagh,  says  that  some  fragments  of  the 

O'Neil's  stone  chair  used  to  be  shown  upon  the  glebe  of  the  parish  of 

Desert-creight,  county  Tyrone. 

1  Gleann-chi-cein,  the  ••  far  head  of  the  glen."  ^ 

7* 


,  :;,ir: 


78 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


l 


H, 


it 


"  Moyola, winds  its  way  to  Lough  Neagh,  then  the  mos ' 
"  inaccessible  fastness  in  all  Tyr-owen.  Here,  with  six 
"  hundred  infantry  and  about  sixty  horse,  he  made  his 
"  last  stand,  and  actually  defied  the  armies  of  England 
"  that  whole  winter.  His  western  allies  were  still  up  in 
"  Connaught,  and  Bryan  McArt  O'Neil  in  Claneboy^ 
"  —  and  a  favorable  reverse  of  fortune  was  still  possi- 
**ji)le ;  or  the  Spaniards  might  still  remember  him,  and 
*nn  any  event  he  could  ill  brook  the  thought  of  surren- 
"  daring. 

"  But  the  winter's  campaign  in  Connaught  was  fatal 
"  to  the  cause  in  that  quarter.  In  the  north,  O'Cahan 
"  gave  in  his  submission  to  Docwra,  and  Chichester  and 
**  Danvers  reduced  Bryan  McArt ;  so  that  early  in  the 
"  spring  of  1603,  O'Neil  found  that  no  chief  in  all  Ireland 
**  kept  the  field  on  his  part,  except  O'Ruarc,  McGwire^ 
"  and  the  faithful  Tyrrell.  He  had  heard  too  of  Rod- 
"  erick  O'Donnell's  submission,  and  Red  Hugh's  death, 
"  and  that  no  more  forces  were  to  be  hoped  from  Spain. 
"  Famine  also  and  pestilence,  caused  by  the  ravage  of 
"  the  preceding  summer,  Hlid  made  cruel  havoc  among 
"  his  people.  A  thousand  corpses  lay  unburied  between 
"  Toome  and  TuUogh-oge,  three  thousand  had  died  of 
"  mere  starvation  in  all  Tyr-owen,  and  *  no  spectacle,' 
"  says  Moryson,  *  was  more  frequent  in  the  ditches  of 
"  towns,  and  especially  of  wasted  countries,  than  to  see 
"  multitudes  of  the  poor  people  dead,  with  their  mouths  all 
"  colored  green  by  eating  nettles,  docks,  and  all  things 
"  they  could  rend  up  above  ground.'  It  was  this  winter 
"  that  Chichester  and  Sir  Richard  Moryson,  returning 
"  from  their  expedition  against  Bryan  McArt,  *  saw  a 
"  horrible  spectacle  —  three  children,  the  eldest  not  above 
"  ten  years  old,  all  eating  and  gnawing  with  their  teeth 
"  the  entrails  of  their  dead  mother,  on  whose  flesh  they 
"  had  fed  for  twenty  days  past.'  Can  the  human  imagi- 
"  nation  conceive  such  a  ghastly  sight  as  this  ?  —  Or 
"  picture  a  winter's  morning,  in  a  tield  near  Newry, 
"  and  some  old  women  making  a  fire  there,  '  and  divers 
"  little  children,  driving  out  the  cattle  in  the  cold  morn- 
"  ings,  and  coming  thither  to  warm  them,  are  by  them 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


79 


*  surprised,  and  killed,  and  eaten/  *      Captain  Trevor 

*  'and  many  honest  gentlemen  lying  in  the  Newry/  wit- 

*  nessed  this  horror  —  a  vision  more  grim  and  ghastly 

*  than    any  weird    sisters   that   ever  brewed  hell-broth 

*  upon  a  blasted  heath. 

"  And  at  last  the  haughty  chieftain  learned  the  bitter 

*  lesson  of  adversity ;  the  very  materials  of  resistance 
'  had  vanished  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  he 
'  humbled  his  proud  heart,  and  sent  proposals  of  ac- 
'  commodation  to  Mountjoy.  The  deputy  received  his 
'  instructions  from  London,  and  sent  Q^ir  William  Go- 
'  dolphin   and  Sir  Garret  Moore  as  commissioners  to 

arrange  with  him  the  terms  of  peace.  The  negotia- 
tion was  hurried,  on  the  deputy's  part,  by  private  infor- 
mation which  he  had  received  of  the  queen's  death ; 
and  fearing  that  O'Neil's  views  might  be  altered  by 
that  circumstance,  he  imrnediately  desired  the  com- 
missioners to  close  the  agreement,  and  invite  O'Neil, 
under  safe  conduct,  to  Drogheda,  to  have  it  ratified 
without  delay. 

«  On  the  30th  day  of  March  (alas  the  day!)  Hugh 
O'Neil,  now  sixty  years  of  age,  —  worn  with  care,  and 
toil,  and  battle,  and  in  bitter  grief  for  the  miseries  of 
his  faithful  clansmen,  —  met  the  lord  deputy  in  peaceful 
guise  at  Mellifont,  and,  on  his  bended  knees  before 
him,  tendered  his  submission ;  and  the  favorable  con- 
ditions that  were  granted  him,  even  in  this,  his  fallen 
estate,  show  what  anxiety  the  counsellors  of  Elizabeth 
must  have  felt  to  disarm  the  still  formidable  chief.  First 
he  was  to  have  full  '  pardon '  for  the  past ;  next  to  be  re- 
stored in  blood,  notwithstanding  his  attainder  and 
'  outlawry,'  and  to  be  reinstated  in  his  dignity  of  Earl  of 
Tyr-owen ;  then  he  and  his  people  were  to  enjoy  full 
and  free  exercise  of  their  religion  ;  and  new  '  letters 
patent'  were  to  issue,  regranting  to  him  and  other 
northern  chiefs  the  whole  lands  occupied  by  their 
respective  clans,  save  the  country  held  by  Henry  Oge 
O'Neil  and  Turlough's  territory  of  the  Fews.     Out  of 


I  '.< 


t 


*  Moryson  in  Mitchel's  Life  of  Hugh  O'Neil. 


80 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE   «4l;   V.  - 


J'if^M^ ' 


the  land  was  also  reserved  a  tract  of  six  hundred  acres 
upon  the  Blackwater ;  half  to  be  assigned  to  Mount- 
joy  Fort,  and  half  to  Charlemont. 
**  On  O'Neil's  part  the  conditions  were,  that  he  should 
once  for  all  renounce  the  title  of  '  The  O'Neil,'  &nd 
the  jurisdiction  and  state  of  an  Irish  chieftain ;  that 
he  should  now,  at  length,  sink  into  an  earl,  wear  his 
coronet  and  golden  chain  like  a  peaceable  nobleman, 
and  suffer  his  country  to  become  *  shireground,'  and 
admit  the  functionaries  of  English  government.  He 
was  al§o  to  write  to  Spain  for  his  son  Henry,*  who 
was  residing  in  the  court  of  King  Philip,  and  deliver 
him  as  a  hostage  to  the  King  of  England. 
"  And  so  the  torch  and  the  sword  had  rest  in  Ulster 
'  for  a  time;  and  the  remnant  of  its  inhabitants,  to  use 
'  the  language  of  Sir  John  Da  vies,  *  being  brayed  as  it 
'  were  in  a  mortar  with  the  sword,  famine,  and  pesti- 
'  lence  together,   submitted  themselves  to  the   British 

*  government,  received  the  law^  and  magistrates,  and 
'  gladly  embraced  the  king's  pardon.'  That  long,  bloody 
'  war  had  cost  England  many  millions  of  treasure,!  and 

*  the  blood  of  tens  of  thousands  of  her  veteran  soldiers ; 

*  and  from  the  face  of  Ireland  it  swept  nearly  one  half 

*  of  the  entire  populaticn." 

Four  years  after,  James  being  king,  Cecil' employed 
JLord  Howth  to  hsbtch  a  plot  against  O'Neil,  and  Rod- 
erick O'Donnell.  They  were  summoned  to  Dublin,  but, 
forwarned  of  their  fate,  fled  to  the  continent.  In  1616, 
Hugh  O'Neil  received  at  Rome  the  holy  viaticum,  from 
Father  Luke  Wadding,  to  whom  he  intrusted  his  sword, 
in  keeping  for  the  next  chief  of  the  Irish  nation.  He  is 
buried  in  the  church  of  "  San  Pietro  in  Montorio." 


*  "  This  Henry  appears  to  have  been  the  only  son  of  O'Neil  and  his 
first  wife  ;  and  he  had  been  living  for  some  years  in  the  court  of  King 
Philip.  O'Neil  had  four  wives  iii  succession  —  first  a  daughter  of  one 
of  the  O'Tooles,  then  Hugh  O'Donnell's  sister,  then  Sir  Henry  Bagnal'a 
sister,  and  last  a  lady  of  the  McGennis  family,  of  Down. "  —  Mitchel. 

t  "  'In  the  year  1699  the  queen  spent  sir  hundred  thousand  pounds  in 
six  months  on  the  nervice  of  Ireland.  Sir  Robert  Cecil  affirmed  that  in 
ten  years  Ireland  cost  her  three  millions  four  hundred  thousand  pounds.' 
—  Hume.    These  were  enormous  sums  at  that  period." 


■»* 


* 


r^./JK- 


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'M 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


m 


-\. 


V 


Roderick  O'Donnell  died  in  Spain,  where  his  posterity 
rose  to  many  honors,  and  from  whence  the  return  of  a 
"  Baldearg,"  who  should  liberate  Ireland,  was  confidently 
expected  for  a  hundred  years  after. 

Thus  passed  away  the  first  generation  who  resisted 
the  introduction  of  Protestantism  into  Ireland.  Judged 
by  their  enemies  or  their  acts,  they  weje  no  mean  men. 
They  were  not  deficient  in  policy,  and  they  surpassed  in 
valor.  Rome  recognized  their  championship,  and  Spain 
their  reputation.  Grey,  De  Burgh,  Raleigh,  Carew, 
Mountjoy,  Cecil,  bacon,  and  Elizabeth  were  no  ordinary 
adversaries.  The  resources  of  the  enemy  were  far  supe- 
rior to  those  of  the  Catholics,  and  in  the  sovereignty  of 
Elizabeth,  the  former  had  the  incomparable  advantage 
of  a  higher  unity  of  action. 

For  a  generation,  no  other  Catholic  armament  was 
attempted.  The  reasons  for  this  long  and  inglorious 
submission  may  be  gleaned  from  the  despatch  which 
Mountjoy  addressed  to  the  privy  council  at  the  end  of 
the  war.     He  writes  — 

"  And  first,  to  present  unto  your  lordships  the  out- 
ward face  of  the  four  provinces,  and  after,  to  guesse 
(as  neere  as  I  can)  at  their  dispositions.  Mounster,  by 
the  good  government  and  industry  of  the  lord  pres- 
ident, is  cleare  of  any  force  in  rebellion,  except  some 
few,  not  abie  to  make  any  forcible  head ;  in  Leinster 
there  is  not  one  declared  rebell ;  in  Connaught  there  is 
none  but  in  O'Rorke's  country ;  in  Ulster  none  but 
Tyrone  and  Bryan  McAH,  who  w^as  never  lord  of 
any  country,  and  now  doth,  with  a  body  of  loose  men, 
and  some  creaghts,  continue  in  Glancomkynes,  or  neere 
the  borders  thereof.  Cohonocht  McGwy-e,  some- 
times Lord  of  Fermanagh,  is  banished  out  of  the  coun- 
try, who  lives  with  O'Rorkc  ;  and  at  this  time,  Conor 
Roe  McGwyre  m  possessed  of  it  by  the  queene,  and 
holds  it  for  her.  I  believe  that  generally  the  lords  of 
the  countries  that  are  reclaimed  desire  a  peace,  though 
they  will  be  wavering  till  their  lands  and  estates  are 
assured  unto  th  m  from  her  majestie  ;  and  as  long  as 
,".  they  bje  a  party  in  rebellion  to  subsist,  that  is  of  a 


.•>;•. -;«»41 


'*•■ 


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ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


power  to  ruine  them,  if  they  continue  subjects  or  other- 
wise, shall  be  doubtful  of  our  defence.  All  that  are 
out  doe  seeke  for  mercy,  excepting  O'Rorke,  and 
O'Sullivan,  who  is  now  with  O'Rorke ;  and  these  are 
obstinate  only  out  of  their  diffidence  to  be  safe  in  any 
forgivenesse.  The  loose  men,  and  such  as  are  only 
captaines  of  bonnoghts,  as  Tirrefll  and  Bryan  McArt, 
will  nourish  the  warre  as  long  as  they  see  any  possibilitie 
to  subsist ;  and  like  ill  humours,  have  recourse  to  any 
part  that  is  unsound.  The  nobilitie,  towns,  and  English- 
Irish  are,  for  the  most  part,  as  weary  of  the  warre  as 
any,  but  unwilling  to  have  it  ended,  generally  for  fear 
that  upon  a  peace  will  ensue  a  severe  reformation  of 
religion;  and,  in  particular,  many  bordering  gentlemen 
that  were  made  poore  by  their  own  faults,  or  by  rebels' 
incursions,  continue  their  spleene  to  them,  now  they 
are  become  subjects ;  and  having  used  to  help  them- 
selves by  stealths,  did  never  more  use  them,  nor  better 
prevailed  in  them  than  now,  that  these  submittees 
have  laid  aside  their  owne  defence,  and  betaken  them- 
selves to  the  protection  and  justice  of  the  state;  and 
many  of. them  have  tasted  so  much  sweete  in  entertain- 
ments that  they  rather  desire  a  warre  to  continue  there 
than  a  quiet  harvest  that  might  arise  out  of  their  own 
honest  labour;  so  that  I  doe  find  none  more  pernicious 
instruments  of  a  new  warre  than  some  of  these.  In  iiie 
meane  time,  Tyrone,  while  he  shall  live,  will  blow 
every  sparke  of  discontent,  or  new  hopes  that  shall  lye 
hid  in  a  corner  of  the  kingdome,  and  before  he  shall  be 
utterly  extinguished  make  many  blazes,  and  sometimes 
set  on  fire  or  consume  the  next  subjects  unto  him. 
I  am  persuaded  that  his  combination  is  already  broken, 
and  it  is  apparent  that  his  meanes  to  subsist  in  any 
power  is  overthrowne ;  but  how  long  hee  may  live  as  a 
wood-kerne,  and  what  new  accidents  may  fall  out  while 
he  doth  live,  I  know  not.  If  it  be  imputed  to  my 
fault  that,  notwithstanding  her  majestie*s  great  forces, 
ho  doth  still  live,  I  beseech  your  lordships  to  remember 
how  securely  the  bandittoes  of  Italy  doe  live,  between 
the  power  of  the  King  of  Spaine  and  the  pope.     How 


-<•.'»;  ;.ri>- 


4 


% 


:::*■  * 


PROTESTANT    RltPORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


"•i&..^ 


maft^  men  of  aii  countreyea  of  severall  times  have  in 
such  sort  preserved  themselves  long  from  the  great 
power  of  princes,  but  especially  in  this  cotintrey,  where 
there  are  so  many  difficulties  to  carry  an  armie,  in 
most  places  so  many  unaccessible  strengths  for  themr 
to  flye  unto ;  and  then  to  bee  pleased  to  consider  the 
great  worke  that  first  I  had  to  breake  this  maine  rebel- 
lion, to  defend  the  king^Nan  from  a  dangerous  invasion 
of  a  mightie  forraine  prince,  with  ho  strong  a  partie  in 
the  countrey,  and  now  the  difficultie  to  root  out  scat- 
tered troopes  that  had  so  many  unaccessible  dennes  to 
lurke   in,   which    as   they   are  by   nature   of  extreme 
strength  and  perill  to  bee  attempted,  so  it  is  impossible 
for  any  people,  naturally  and  by  art,  to  make  greater 
use  of  them.      And  though  with  infinite  dangers  wee 
do  beat  them  out  of  one,  yet  is  there  no  possibilitie 
for  us  to  follow  them  with  such  agilitie  as  they  will  flye 
to  another ;  and  it  is  most  sure  that  never  traytor  knew 
better  how  to  keepe  his  owne  head  than  this ;  nor  any 
subjects  have  a  more;  dreadfull  awe  to  lay  viole  yt  hands 
on  their  sacred  prince  than  these  people  have  to  touch 
the  person  of  their  O'Neales;  and  hee  that  hath  as  pesti- 
lent  a  judgment  as  ever  any  had  to  nourish  and  to 
spreade  his  owne  infection,  hath  the  ancient  swelling 
and  desire  of  libertie  in  a  conquered  nation  to  worke 
upon;  their  fear  to  bee  rooted  out,  or  to  have  their  old 
faults  punished  upon  all  particular   discontents,  and 
generally  over  all  the  kingdom,  the  feare  of  a  per- 
secution for  religion,  the  debasing  of  the  coyne,  (which 
is  grievous  unto  all  sortes,)   auu  a  dearth  and  fam- 
ine,  which   is  already  begun,   and   must   necessarily 
grow  shortly  to  extremity ;  the  least  of  which,  alone, 
have    been   many   times   sufficient  motives    to  drive 
the  best  and  most  quiet  estates  into   suddaine  con- 
fusion.     These    will   keepe   all  spirits  from   settling, 
breed  new  combinations,  and,  I  feare,  even  stir  the 
'  townes  themselves  to  solicit  foraine  aide,  with  promise 

*  to  cast  themselves  into  their  protection  ;  and  although 

*  it  bee  true  that  if  it  had  pleased  her  majestic  to  have 

*  longer   continued   her    army   in   greater   strength,    I 


«» 


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84 


4) 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE   f 


■^ 


"  should  the  better  have  provided  for  what  these  cloudes 
"  doe  threaten,  and  sooner  and  more  easily  either  have  . 
"  made  this  countrey  a  rased  table,  v/herein  shee  might 
"  have  written  her  owne  lawes,  or  have  tyed  the  ill-disposed 
"  and  rebellious  hands  till  I  had  surely  planted  such  a 
"  government  as  vrould  have  overgrowne  and  killed  any 
"  wteds  that  should  have  risen  under  it;  yet  since  thei- 
"  necessitie  of  the  state  doeth  so  urge  a  diminution  of 
"  -his  great  expense,  I  will  not  despayre  to  goe  on  with 
"  this  worke,  through  all  these  difficulties,  if  wee  bee  not 
"  interrupted  by  forraine  forces,  although,  perchance, 
"  wee  may  be  encountered  with  some  new  irruptions, 
"  aad  (by  often  adventuring)  with  some  disasters;  and  \l 
"  may  bee  your  lordships  shall  sometimes  heare  of 
"  some  spoyles  done  upon  the  subjects,  from  the  which 
"  it  is  impossiale  to  preserve  them  in  all  places,  with  far 
"  greater  forces  than  ever  yet  were  kept  in  this  kingdome ; 
"  and  although  it  hath  been  seldom  heard  that  an  armie 
"  hath  been  carried  on  with  so  continuall  action,  and  en- 
*'  during  without  any  intermission  of  winter  breathings, 
"  and  that  the  difficulties  at  this  time  to  keepe  any 
"  forces  in  the  place  where  wee  must  make  the  waire 
"  (but  especially  our  horse)  are  almost  beyond  any  hope 
"  to  prevent,  yet  with  the  favour  of  God  and  her  majes- 
"  ty's  fortune  I  doe  determine  myselfe  to  draw  into  the 
"  field  as  soon  as  I  have  received  her  majesty's  com- 
"  mandments  by  the  commissioners,  who  it  hath  pleased 
"  her  to  send  over;  and  in  the  mean  time  I  hope  by 
"  mine  owne  presence  or  directions  to  set  every  partie 
"  on  worke  that  doth  adjoyne,  or  may  bee  drawn  against 
"  any  force  that  doth  now  remaine  in  rebellion.  In  which 
"  journey  the  successe  must  bee  in  the  hands  of  God: 
"  but  I  will  confidently  promise  to  omit  nothing  that  is 
"  possible  by  us  to  bee  done,  to  give  the  last  blow  unto 
"  the  rebellion." 


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PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


85 


'.;i^^ 


CHAPTER  V. 


! 


'     * 


STUARTS     SUCCEED    TO  THE   THRONE.— ENDOWMENT    OP    TRINITY 

COLI.EGE.-USHER   AND    O'DANIEL.— CONFISCATION  OF  ULSTER. 

*if»' RECUSANT  "   PARTY.— CHARLES   I.- A   NEW   PLR8ECUTI0N. — 

STRAFFORD'S  VICEROYALTY— CONFISCATION  OF  CONNAUGUT.— 

^      THE  SCHOOL  OF  WARDS.— THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT. 

m 

The  reigns  of  James  and  Charles  I.  were  spent  in 
dividing  the  spoils  acquired  by  the  late  wars  and  confis- 
cations. 

Of  the  spoils  gathered  on  the  field  of  Kinsale,  £1800 
"Vere  set  apart  for  Trinity  College  library.  This  institu- 
tion, founded  on  the  confiscated  priory  of  All-Hallows, 
ceded  for  that  purpose  by  the  corporatioif  of  the  city, 
opened  in  1593;  it  first  sv.-allowed  Cong'  Abbey,  in 
Mayo,  and  Abbey  O'Dornoy,  in  the  Desmond  country. 
Other  grants  it  had  which  were  come  at  in  the  progress 
of  the  conquest.  Mountjoy,  who  affected  the  literary 
character,  and  wrote  commentaries  after  the  manner  of 
Caesar,  suggested  the  Kinsale  contribution.  His  second 
in  command,  Carew,  afterwards  Earl  of  Totness,  another 
author  and  actor  of  the  same  school,  jeagerly  seconded 
the  suggestion.  *         0 

We  cannot  wonder  to  find  a  university  so  founded 
productive  mainly  of  Mgotry,  and  nurturing  nationality 
only  through  ignorancv^  of  its  nature.  James  Usher, 
nephew  of  the  queen's  Bishop  of  Armagh,  was  one  of 
its  first  scholars,  and  in  his  department,  its  greatest  name. 
He  became  the  intellectual  leader  of  Irish  Protestantism  ; 
in  1615,  drew  its  forty-two  articles,  which  were  super- 
seded by  the  thirty-nine  articles  of  the  Westminster 
Confessior  in  1634.  In  his  early  career,  he  was  distin- 
guished as  the  author  of  the  theory  that  the  early  Irish 
church  was  not  in  communion  with  Rome.  Some  bold 
.sentences  in  St.  Columba's  epistle  to  Pope  Boniface, 
the  different  days  celebrated  as  Easter,  and  one  or  two 
other  points,  gave  this  theory  a  color  of  truth,  which  had 
i,  8  » , 


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86  ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE  '% 

no  substance.  Notwithstanding,  it  was  a  iisefiil  fallacy, 
and  perhaps  the  Irish  establishment  would  long  since 
have  fallen,  but  for  its  supposed  .  ^vival  of  earlier  doginas 
and  discipline. 

Beside  Usher,  the  prelate  who  strove  most  to  natural- 
ize Protestanism  in  Ireland  was  William  Daniel,  or 
O'Daniel,  appointed  Archbishop  of  Tuam  in  1609.  He 
had  been  one  of  the  first  fellows  of  Trinity  College,  and 
was  celebrated  for  his  attainments  as  a  linguist.  He 
translated  the  English  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  the 
Grpf  Ir  Testament  into  Irish.*  "  He  was  also  very  know- 
ing in  the  Hebrew."  He  was  not  naturally  a  bigot, 
thoagh  "early  prejudice"  s.eems  to  have  made  hiiri  some- 
lime. ^  a  persecutor  of  the  ancient  clergy.  In  1628,  he 
J'^rd  at  Tuam,  and  was  buried  in  Ihe  cathedral. 

Sir  James  Ware,  another  early  scholar  of  Trinity,  way 
■"choolof  Usher  and  O'Daniel.  His  favorite  study 
was  Irish  history;  and  although  he  favors  thy  Protes- 
tants' theory  of  the  church  of  St.  Patrick,  he  never 
descends  to  the  virulence  of  its  modern  defenders. 
When  we  name  these  three  men,  we  name  all  the  natives 
of  Ireland,  who,  in  the  first  century  of  Protestantism, 
distinguished  themselves  in  the  controversial  service  of 
the  "  reformation." 

The  death  of  Elizabeth  had  inspired  the  Catholics 
with  sanguine  hopes.  In  the  southern  towns,  the  laity 
rose,  expelled  the  parsons,  and  restored  the  priesthood. 
At  Cork,  an  ecclesiastic,  lately  from  Rome,  was  publicly 
feted  as  the  pope's  legate.  Religious  processions  filled 
the  streets,  and  friars  resumed  the  habit  of  their  order. 
At  Waterford,  Father  Peter  White,  an  eminent  Jesuit, 
preached,  with  exultation,  that  Jezabel  was  dead. 

The  Catholics  had  every  assurance  of  sympathy  from 
the  agents  and  partisans  of  the  new  dynasty.  The 
Stuarts  were  no  strangers   in  Ireland.     The  blood  of 

♦  In  1501,  Queen  Elizabeth  provided  Irish  type  for  the  univer8ity» 
"  in  the  hope  that  God  in  his  mercy  would  raise  up  some  to  translate 
the  New  Testament  into  their  mother  tongue."  Copies  of  TyndaFs 
Bible  were  placed  in  "the  midst  of  the  choir"  of  St.  Patrick's  Cathe* 
dral  and  Christ  Church,     r^j^^-^  ^<:^^r 


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Brian  and  of  McMurrogh  flowed  in  their  veins,  and  anti- 
quaries loved  to  trace  their  remoter  descent  from  Fleance, 
who  fled  from  Macbeth,  the  usurper,  into  Ireland.  James 
had  himself  boasted  this  pedigree,  and  declared  his 
ambition  to  become  the  pacificator  of  Ireland.  By  the 
act  of  oblivion,  in  his  first  year,  he  promised  protection 
to  all ;  but  the  next  year  by  "  the  commission  of  grace," 
he  substituted  the  English  for  the  Celtic  law;  vassalage 
for  tenant  right ;  primogeniture  for  tanistry ;  rents  and 
taxes  for  " coigne  and  livery;"  tithes  for  termon  lands ; 
capital  punishment  for  the  eric  and  mutilation  ;  patented 
earls  for  elective  chiefs ;  itinerant  courts  for  local  Bre- 
haives ;  and  the  policy  of  England  for  the  traditions  of 
Ireland. 

Worn  down  by  a  long  unequal  war,  and  abandoned 
by  Spain,  the  Irish  in  Ireland  submitted,  while  those 
abroad  kept  up  the  cause,  and  even  procured  the  consent 
of  Pope  Clement  VIII.,  that  fiis  nephew  should  assume 
the  title  of  "  protector  of  Ireland,"  which  he  did  accord- 
ingly- 

James,  alarmed  by  the  gunpowder  plot  and  the  publi- 
cations of  the  Irish  exiles  in  Spain  and  Rome,  and  swayed, 
moreover,  by  Cecil,  his  minister,  in  his  third  year,  openly 
declared  against  toleration.  His  proclamation  ran  aa 
follows :  — 

"  Whereas  we  have  been  infonned  that  our  subjects 
"  in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  since  the  death  of  our  be- 
"  loved  sister^  have  been  deceived  by  a  false  rumor,  to 
"  wit,  that  we  would  allow  them  liberty  of  conscience, 
"  contrary  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  that  kingdom,  and 
"  the  religion  which  we  profess.  From. this  some  have 
"  deemed  us  less  zealous  than  we  ought  to  be  in  the 
"  administration  of  the  Irish  church,  as  well  as  in  that 
"  of  the  other  churches  over  which  it  is  our  duty  to 
"  watch ;  and  very  many  of  our  Irish  subjects  seem 
"  determined  in  persevering  in  their  obstinate  contu- 
"  macy.  Jesuits,  seminarists,  prieilL  and  bishops,  who 
"  have  received  ordination  at  the  !%ids  of  foreigners, 
"  thus  emboldened,  have  lain  concealed  in  various  parts 
**  of  that  kingdom,  and  now  emerging  from  their  biding- 

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places,  exercise  their  functions  and  riglits,  despising  us     i 


"  Wherefore  it  hath  seemed  good  to  us  to  notify  to 
"  our  beloved  subjects  of  Ireland,  that  we  shall  never 
"  tolerate  such  a  state  of  things;  and  notwithstanding 
"  the  rumors  so  industriously  circulated,  we  are  firmly 
"  resolved  never  to  allow  any  religion  save  that  which  is 
"  consonant  to  the  word  of  God,  established  by  our  laws. 
*'  By  these  presents,  therefore,  le^  all  men  know  that  we 
"  strictly  order  and  command  all  and  every  of  our  sub- 
"  jects  to  frequent  the  parochial  churches,  to  assist  at 
"  the  divine  offices,  and  attend  to  the  exposition  of  the 
*'  word  of  God,  on  Sundays  and  festival  days,  according 
"  to  the  rule  and  spirit  of  the  laws.  They  who  will  act 
*'  contrariwise  will  incur  the  penalties  provided  by  the 
"  statutes  which  we  now  order  to  be  rigorously  enforced. 

"  And  as  it  has  been  notified  to  us  that  Jesuits,  semi- 
*'  nary  priests,  and  many  other  priests,  wander  about  the 
"  kingdom  of  Ireland,  seducing  our  subjects  to  the  ob- 
"  servance  of  their  superstitious  ceremonies,  thus  bring- 
"  ing  our  laws  into  contempt:  We  now  order  and  com- 
*'  mand  that  all  such  Jesuits,  priests,  seminarists,  &c., 
"  &c.,  who  have  been  ordained  in  foreign  parts,  or  derive 
"  any  authority  from  the  Roman  see,  do,  after  the 
"  expiration  of  the  last  day  of  November,  instant,  with- 
"  draw  from  our  kingdom  of  Ireland ;  nor  let  any  such 
"  persons  after  that  date  venture  to  return  into  the  afore- 
"  said  kingdom.  Should  they  contravene  this  order,  we 
"  strictly  ordain,  that  they  are  to  be  punished  to  the 
"  utmost  rigor  of  the  laws  in  this  case  already  speci- 
"  fied.  We,  moreover,  strictly  forbid  all  our  subjects 
"  of  Ireland  to  shelter  or  countenance  any  Jesuit,  semi- 
"  nary  priest,  or  other  priest,  who  will  dare  to  re- 
"  main  in  Ireland,  or  return  thither  after  the  10th  day 
"  of  December,  instant.  vV  * 

"  But  if  any  of  the  aforesaid  Jesuits,  seminary  priests, 
*'  or  priests  of  aj|ai>  order,  shall  dare  to  remain  in  the 
*'  kingdom  of  IfiRiul,  or  return  thither  after  the  lOth 
*'  day  of  December,  instant,  and  if  any  of  our  subjects 
>*  shall  dare  to  receive  or  shelter  them,  we  strictly  com- 


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PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


89 


**  mand  all  our  mayors,  constables,  sheriffs,  judges,  &;c., 
"  &c.,  to  act  as  faithful  subjects,  and  to  ^e'v/Ai  the  bodies 
"  or  body  of  each  and  every  Jesuit,  seminary  priest,  and 
"  other  priests  who  have  received  their  ordination  in 
"  foreign  parts,  and  ^v>mmit  them  to  close  confinement 
"  until  oar  viceroy  or  is  deputy  shall  have  inflicted  on 
"  them  just  i.nd  deserved  punishment. 

"  But  if  any  of  the  aforesaid  Jesuits,  seminary  priests, 
"  or  others  shall,  before  the  aforesaid  10th  day  of  De- 
"  cember  next,  present  himself  before  our  viceroy,  or  any 
"  other  of  our  officers  of  state,  ai^  fyi"g  his  desire  to 
"  frequent  oar  churches,  according  to  the  spirit  of  our 
"  laws,  we  will  give  permission  to  such  Jesuits,  seminary 
"  priests,  ar-d  others,  to  tarry  in  our  kingdom,  and  return 
"  theret  as  long  as  they  shall  c  ^ntinue  faithful  to  the 
"  obser\.:nces  wMiich  we  prescribe.  Such  persons  shall 
"  have  and  enjoy  all  the  privileges  belongiiig  to  our 
"  faithful  and  lovirg  subjects." 

"  Given  at  Westminster,  July  4,  1605." 
This  proclamation  was  followed  by  an  oath  of  abjura- 
tion, cast  by  the  king's  own  hand,  in  which  the  pope's 
power  to  depose  the  prince,  or  grant  away  any  of  his 
territories,  or  absolve   his   subjects  from  allegiance,   or 

.  authorize  them  to  bear  arms,  with  other  current  charges 
upon  Catholics,  was  expressly  renu'  ated.  Pope  Paul 
v.,  then  new^  in  the  chair  of  Peter,  ^nig  consulted  as  to 
the  oath,  issued  his  brief  in  1606,  &  laring  that  Catho- 
lics "  could  not,  with  safety  to  th  -ir  consciences  or  th« 
Catholic  faith,  take  this  oath."  The  authenticity  of  this 
paper  being  questioned  by  certain  pliant,  conforming 
Catholics,  the  same  pontiff  the  following  year  confirmed 
its  edict  by  another.  To  these  pajx^rs  James  put  forth 
an  elaborate  reply,  quoting  tlie  v  thers  and  canonists 
with  great  confidence  as  being  all  on  his  side.     Not  con- 

.  tent  with  arguing  the  matter  with  Cardinal  Bellarmine 
and  Father  Suarez,  he  prepared  to  j^^tablish  hi.s  opinions 
hyjM  the  forces  of  the  state.  n 

in  his  deputy,  Arthur  Chichesteif*ihe  had  a  zealous 
agent  of  tyranny,  the  pleasures  of  whose  life  were  two- 
fold,—  hunting  down  priests  and  seizing  confiscated 
estates  to  his  own  use. 


■ft,"- 


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■^w- 


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ATTEMPTS    TO   ESTAtfLlSH   THE     . 


In  1607,  as  before  stated,  Chichester  and  "  Artful 
Cecil"  charge^  che  northern  Irish  chiefs  as  intriguing 
with  Spain  and  the  po.je.  Cited  to  Dublm,  O'Neil, 
O'Donnell,  (Roderick,)  nnd  their  nearest  of  kin  f:  J 
from  Lough  Swiliy  to  Normandy,  whence  they  pa  :  d 
on  to  Rome,  never  to  return.  In  1608,  Cahir  O'Doherty 
of  Inniahowen,  fearing  the  same  fate,  rose  in  arms, 
and  after  a  six  months'  war,  died  by  assassination. 
On  these  most  insufficient  grounds  the  six  counties  of 
Derry, Donegal,  Armagh,  Tyrone,  Fermanagh,  and  Cavaa 
\vere  declared  confiscated  to  the  crown,  and  James  pre- 
pared to  plant  them  with  a  population,  which,  in  the 
polity  of  Providence, "became  the  mortal  enemies  of  his 
children.  James  I.  brought  in  the  race  who  drove  James 
II.  out.  As  Kerry,  Limerick,  Waterford,  and  Cork  had 
been  parcelled  out  twenty  years  before  to  the  Kings, 
Butlers,  Boyles,  and  Raleighs,  so  the  lands  of  the 
O'Reillys  now  went  to  the  Hamiltons,  of  the  McGuires 
to  the  Folliots  and  Gores,  of  the  O'Donnells  to  the  Cun- 
ninghams, of  the  O'Dohertys  to  Chichester,  of  the 
O'Neila  to  Lindseys,  Stewarts,  and  Brownlows,  and  the 
city  of  Columbcille  ro  the  fishmongers  of  London. 
Above  eight  hundreii  iod  eighty -five  thousand  acres  of 
arable  land  thus  ■  hiuig^^d  hands  and  lords,  almost  as 
quickly  as  in  the  ccuhm}  of  nature  the  summer  stubble 
is  covered  with  the  winter's  frost.* 

Not  content  with  reducing  Ulster  to  the  fate  of  Munster, 
Chichester,  in  James's  name,  issued,  in  July,  1610,  the 
following  proclamatipn :  — 

"  Whereas  the  peace  of  this  kingdom  has  been  im- 
"  perilled  by  seminarists  and  priests,  who  go  beyond 
"  seas  for  the  purposes  of  education,  and  on  their  return 
"  inculcate  doctrines  calculated  to  imbue  the  minds  of 
"  the  people  with  superstition  and  idolatry,  we  strictly 
"  prohibit  all,  save  merchants  and  sailors,  from  passing 


♦  For  the  security  of  J^  Ulster  plantation,  Jamei;,  in  1611,  fo 
the  order  of  baronets,  gllmg  to  each  the  ancient  blazon  of  the  O 
—  "a  hand  sinister,  coilped  at  the  wrist "  —  as  a  distinctive  crest* 
Derry  and  EnniskUlen  proved  stronger  against  his  posterity  than  all 
baronets  were  for  them. 


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PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND.  91 


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/ 


"  over  to  other  countries,  on  pain  of  incurring  the  royal 
"  indignation  and  the  other  penalties  decreed  against 
"  those  who  transgress  the  laws  of  this  realm.  Where- 
"  fore  we  command  ail  noblemen,  merchants,  and  others, 
"  whose  children  are  abroad  for  educational  purposes,  to 
"  recall  them  within  one  year  from  date  hereof;  and,  in 
"  case  they  refuse  to  return,  all  parents,  friends,  &c., 
"  sending  them  money,  directly  or  indirectly,  will  be 
"  punished  as  severely  as  the  law  Hs." 

Ulster  and   Munster  being  p'  of  the   contest, 

and  Con  naught   being  rather  re  ^i  England  for 

immediate   subjection,  the  Cath  ^einster  were 

left  alone  to  fight  the  battle  of  th  ..    In  1607,  the 

Baron  of  Devlin,  one  of  their  ablest  lucii,  was  imprisoned 
on  charge  of  collusion  with  O'Neil;  in  1608,  he  was 
liberated,  and  from  thenceforward  his  friends  wisely 
preferred  parliamentary  to  armed  opposition.  The  Par- 
liament convened  in  1613  gave  them  an  opportunity  to 
test  this  policy,  which  they  very  resolutely  did.  They 
set  up  a  candidate  of  their  own  for  the  speakership,  and 
cast  ninety-seven  votos  for  him ;  the  castle  candidate.  Sir 
John  Davies,  had  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven.  The 
contest  became  so  hot  that  James  —  fond  arbitrator  that 
he  was!  —  summoned  the  heads, of  both  parties  to  Eng- 
land. The  "recusantsj"  as  the  Catholics  were  called, 
caught  a  terrible  philippic  in  Whitehall,  and  for  a  r^ession 
seceded  from  the  packed  Parliament.*    In  the  session  of 


i 


■  i,      .?v 


*  James,  in  his  speech,  accused  them  of  having  Peter  Lombard 
(•«  whom  you  call  a  doctor  ")  as  their  agent  at  Rome,  and  Dr.  Hollywood 
in  Ireland;  of  giving  their  souls  to  the  pope  and  their  bodies  to  the 
King  of  Spain !  He  wanted  to  know  whether  they  ever  expected  to 
have  "  the  kingdom  of  Ireland  like  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  !  "  The 
great  Chief  Justice  Coke  added,  at  the  end  of  the  royal  speech,  •'  May 
God  destroy  this  Irish  people,  who  cause  your  '^rown  to  tremble  on  your 
head  !  "  Preston,  Plunkett,  Talbot,  and  Gough  were  the  Irish  deputies. 
At  this  time  many  of  the  Irish  hierarchy  were  obliged  for  personal 
safety  to  reside  abroad.  "  But,"  writes  O'Sullivan,  "in  order  that  there 
may  be  priests  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  to  attend  to  the  cure  of  souls, 
a  JMllu^y  plan  has  been  set  on  foot ;  for  the  better  understanding  of 
which  we  are  to  recollect  that  in  Ireland  there  are  four  archbishop- 
rics and  a  large  number  of  bishoprics ;  and  that  at  the  present  day 
(A.  I).  1621)  they  are  all  held  by  ringleaders  of  heresy ;  and  that  Catho- 


.<■*,. 


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Photographic 

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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

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ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    TUB 


1615,  they  again  appeared,  voted  to  legalize  the  con- 
fiscation of  Ulster,  and,  in  part,  countenanced  the  with- 
drawal of  military  and  civil  commissions  from  all  officers 
professing  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  To  some  of 
these  "recusants,"  part  of  the  (Spoils  of  the  Celtic  chiefs 
was  given,  and  thus  a  contention  was  bred  betWeen  the 
Norman  and  Milesian  Catholics,  which  has  not  since 
been  entirely  eradicated.  It  would,  however,  be  aga|nst 
the  record  to  assert  that  fiie  **  recusant"  party  ^P^  hot 
do  good  service  to  the  Catholic  cause.  They  were  a 
protection  to  all  the  clergy  who  remained  at  home ;  they 
held  in  checlj^  bigoted  executive  and  judicial  officers, 
and  often^  ati^  great  risk  to  themselves.  In  1622,  the 
policy  of  enforcing  the  oath  of  supremacy  was  again 
in^troduced  jiato  Parliament.  The  "recusants"  again 
refused  tO|  tiBce  it,  and  were  summoned  by  the  Lord 
Deputy  Falkland  to  appear  before  him  and  the  epuncil 
in  tbi^rBtar  Chamber,  onihe  22d  of  November.  "  After 
the  ja^es  had  explained  to  them  the  nature,  reason, 
and  equity  of  the  oath,  our  b^^hop  (Usher)  delivered 
himself  in  a  grand  speech  on  tne  occasion ;  wherein  he 
demonstrated  that  the  king  was  the  supreme  and  only 
governor  within  his  dominions,  distinguishing  between 
the  power  of  the  keys  and  of  the  sword,  and  showing 
that  they  by  no  means  clashed  together;  that  the  juris- 
dictioBvPf  a  Roman  pontiflT  over  the  universal  church 
was  a  li^urped  and  unjust  jurisdiction,  and  quite  over- 
turned tiie  foundation  upon  which  it  was  built.  Some 
— ^ — :^ii^ 

lio^prelates  axe  not  appointed  to  their  titles  unless  in  some  few  instances, 
for  this  reason*  that  without  the  ecclesiastical  dues  it  seems  that  such  a 
number  of  bishops  could  not  support  their  rank  and  consequence.  For 
which  reason  four  archbishops,  who  have  been  consecrated  by  the  Koman 
pontiif,  appoint  priests,  or  clerks,  or  persons  of  the  religious  orders,  for 
vicars -general  iu  the  suffragan  bishoprics,  with  the  sanction  of  the  apos- 
tolic see.  These  latter  again  appoint  others  for  the  charge  of  the  parish 
churches.  And  Eugene  Macmagauran,  the  Archbishop  of  Bul^n,  and 
David  O'Carney,  of  Cashel,  encountering  great  perils  and  immense 
labors,  are  poreonally  feeding  the  sheep  belonging  .tD  their  archbishii^- 
rics.  While  Peter  Lombard,  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  and  Fl«ji^lia^ 
O'Melconry,  jof  Tuam,  (who  for  many  r^isoi^  is  unable  to  live  safiillK^ 
the  English  in  Ireland,)  have  intrusted  the  care  of  their  provuicos  to 
vicars." 


, 


c 

t 
f 
e 
c 

r 

c 


•  'ttk.M.-..M»^.,     ■■■■■■f^-'^-     . 


'H* 


PROTEdJlANT   REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND. 


93 


( 


t 


of  those  who  were  called  to  hear  the  sentence  prtsmti- 
nire  (transportation)  pronounced  against  thein,  weM 
convinced  foy  his  reasons,  and  submitted  willingly  to  take 
the  oath."  *  A  printed  copy  of  this  discourse  was  pre- 
sented to  the  king,  and  Usher  was  soon  after  presented 
to  the  primacy.  Whether  his  logic,  or  the'  pramunir^e, 
convinced  those  who  took  the  oath  the  rfader  may  con- 
jecti^ftd.  ;%, 

In  1625,  Charles  I.  sucdeeded  his  father.  The  same 
year  he  married  Harrietta  Maria  of  France,  a-  sincere 
and  practical  Catholic.  The  Catholics,  ever  hopeful  of 
deliverance,  saw  in  this  event  new  promises  of  relief  and 
protection ;  in  entertaining  which  they  were  i%ain  dis- 
appointed. 


The  first  Parliament  called  %  Charles^  ,^6S6,  ire- 
enacted  James's  abjuration  oath  of  1605,  dnd  even 
added  a  supplement  draughted  by  one  Berkely,  which 
required  them  to  deny  the  pope's  supremacy  "ovB#  the 
Catholic  church  in  general,  and  myself  [th<e'^eafer]  in 
particular."  Nor  was  thi$  test  theoretical.  In  1629,  while 
the  Catholics  were  assisting  at  mass  in  Cork  Street,  Dub- 
lin, the  Protestant  archbishop,  with  the  mayor  and  a 
file  of  musketeers,  were  sent  to  disperse  lh%m ;  "  which 
they  did,  taking  away  the  crucifixes  and  ornaments  of 
the  altar,*  the  soldiers  hewing  down  the  imajge  of  St. 
Francis."  The  priests  and  friars  being  caprored,  the 
people  assailed  the  pursuivants  with  atones  %nd  clubs, 
and  a  reenforcement  bad  to  be  sent  to  Jecure  fee  prison- 
ers. Under  the  same  deputy,  (Falklandj)  '*  eight  I%|»i8h 
aldermen  of  Dublin  were  clapped  by  the  heels  for  not 
assisting  the  mayor ; "  the  revenues  of  the  corporation 
of  Waterford  were  escheated  for  "  obstinately  choosing 
a  succession  of  *  recusants '  for  their  chief  magistrates ;  "j 
and  a  proclamation  issued,  forbidding,  on  pain  of  im- 
prisonment, all  friars  and  priests  "to  teach,  preach,  or 
celebrate  their  service  in  any  church,  chapel,  or  other 
public  oratory,  or  place,  or  to  teach  any  school  in  any 


*  Ware's  Irish  Bishop*,  vol.  i.  p.  102. 

t  Leland's  History  of  Ireland,  voL  ii.,  reign  of  Charles. 


94 


j^ 


'Attempts  to  establish  'j^e 


t: 


bjace  lor  places  whatsoever  within  the  kingdom.'^  * 
Fifteen  reli^ous  houses  in  Dublin  were  seized  to 'the 
king's  use^*  and  the  college,  or  seminary,  founded  in  the 
fourteenth  eentury  by  Archbishop  De  JBicknor,  was  con- 
fiscatedi  and  added  to  the  endowments  of  IT^ity  Col- 

The  second  iepptCwho  ruled  Ireland  for  King  Charles 
confirmed  all  tne  feKii%  o^the  Catholics,  especic^Uy  of 
such  as  kept  posse(^i6n  of  property.  Wentworth,  JBarl  of 
Straffoitf,  not  ex^Septing  Mountjoy,  was  the  abliest  of  all 
Irish  vicerpysjp^  a  man  of  great  foresight,  perfect  hypoc-  ^ 
risy,  a  soncnrous,  military  eloquence,  both  in  writing  and 
speaking^hd  an  iron  resolution.  Money  being  the  immet 
diate  witht  of  his  master,  he  offered  to  the  Catholics,  on 
hid^Aiiv|l.  ill  1633,  for  #Qd  in  consideration  of  i;i50,0()0, 
cerjMiin  '♦ioyal  graces,"  or  restrictions  of  the  penalties  on 
"ifecusants."  The  prind^al  concession  was,  thsit  the 
crown  sho^d  advance  no  claim  to  estotes  not  forfeited 
within  the  fievious  sixty  years  —  a  proviso  which  covered 
all  the  remftiing  titles  of  the  4* recusants"  in  Leinster 
and  Connaught.  They  consented ;  butJie  continued- to 
keep  the  details  in  debate,  While  he  drew  the  money  in 
advance;  ail^  then,  having  raised  a  regular  standing 
army,  —  an  institution  at  the  time  unknown  in  either 
island,  —  he  proceeded  "  to  inquire  into  defecfiv-  titles  " 
in  ConnaHght.  Having  created  sixty  new  boro  s  and 
got  a  Parliamef^t  to  do  his  bijdcjjuig,  he  began  m  1634 
with  Bbscomi||Q^,  The  grand  jury  of  that  county,  re- 
fu^^^  to  find  d^feictive  titles,  were  imprisoned  and  heavily 
fineid;  another  was  impanelled,  and  fcmd  for  the  crown. 
The  Of^lwaiy  jury  resisted,  and  was  served  in  like  man- 
ner ;^Mayo  and  Sligo  were  yielded  without  a  struggle ; 
J&40,000,  in  fines,  were  wrung  from  jurors  in  this  cam- 
paign, and  a  great  part  of  the  estates  of  Connaught  were 
seized  and  sold  as  crown  land.  In  the  seven  yeairs  of 
his  viceroyalty,  this  able  despot  not  only  contrived  to 
acquire  large  possessions  for  himself,  to  build  his  ''  folly  " 
at  Naas  and   "park"    in   Wickl©w,  to    expend   over 


*  BushwoTth'i  CoUectionf,  vol.  ii.  p.  21. 


« 


# 


* 


^• 


PROTESTANT   REFORMATION   IN   TREIfAND.  95 

1^     ■ 

£100,000  of  public  money  in  Ireland,  but  also  tc  make 
th6  Island  the  chief  source  of  the  king's  i*evenae. 

To  Weuitworth  belongs  the  first  systematic  attempt 
at  proselytizing  Irish  children.  The  schools  of  "  Kiiif'a 
Wards,"  in  London,  Canterbury,  and  Dublin,  originally 
designed  for'^the  heirs  and  hostages  of  suspected  chiefe, 
had  become  thoroughly  Protestant  institutions.  The 
Court  of  Wards,  in  1617,  decided  that  all  minors  claim- 
ing property  should  attend  these  schools.  Lord  Orrery 
conlplains  that  frequently  these  unfortunates  weiw  '^soid 
like  lattle  in  the  market;"  Sir  Edward  Coke's  infamous 
argument  for  their  perpetual  imprisonment  in  the 'Tower 
remains  in  irrevocable  type ;  the  Catholics^f  j^land,  in 
their  remonstrance,  dated  Trim,  17th  March,  164^  assert 
that  '*  the  heirs  of  Catholic  noblemen  and  otipr  Cat||plics 
were  most  inhumanly  dealt  with  "  by  the  Court  wW^ards. 
Male  and  female,  the  king  ^^  disposed  of  them  in  mar* 
riage  as  he  thought  fit."  Inde^,  whenever  \ire  find  an 
Irish  apostate  or  renegade  during  the  rest  m  the  cen- 
tury, we  maybe  almost  certain  that  he  gpduated  in 
"the  School  of  Wards.'** 

Among  his  various  oppressions,  Strafford  ^ad  tpodden 
hard  on  severa)*  of  the  Scotch  planters  ^  the  north. 
They,  as  Presbyterians  and  Scots,  appefiled  to  their 
brethren  in  England  and  Scotland ;  their  murmurs  were 
soon  lost  in  the  sterner  accents  of  their  co-religionists, 
who,  when  they  drove  the  viceroy  to  the  icaffbld,  felt  the 
terrible  reality  of  the  po#er  they  had  Jfi^J^ong  sought. 
The  Puritans,  as  this  party  were  ca^^,  deserye  wur 
special  attention. 

Beginning  under  King  Edward,  this  sect  was  fostered 
by  the  example  of  Hooper,  Jewell,  and  Grindall,  among 
the  reformed  bishops.  They  had  active  principals  in 
Tyndal,  Coverdale,  Fox,  White,  and  Robert  Browne, 
who  all  taught  that  the  Bible  was  not  only  the  revela- 
tion of  God,  but  the  strict  law  of  civil  and  religious 
government;   that  the   king's   headship,   bishops,   holy 


*  On  the  School  and  Court  of  Wards,  see  Burnet's  History  of  his 
Q'wn  Times,  vol.  L,  or  Carte's  Onnond,  vol.  i. 


■'.^-^ 


96 


^"^fkTTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


orders,  saints'  days  and  cefetnonies,  were  an  abomina-  * 
tion  and  a  hissing,  odious  to  the  Lord.  Their  formal 
existence  dates  from  the  year  1566,  and  their  action,  as  a 
political  party,  from  the  violence  with  which,  twenty 
years  later,  Elizabeth's '  archbishop,  Whitgift,  assailed 
their  conventicles.  Thenceforth  every  Parliament  was  full 
of  their  petitions,  and  every  prison  had  some  of  their 
preachers.  On  arriving  in  England,  in  1603,  Janies 
invited  their  chief  men  td'  dispute  with  his  bishdps,  and 
decided,  if  they  did  not  conform,  to  "  harrie  them  out  o' 
the  land  ;^"  their  opinions  soon  after  began  to  ge#  into 
the  press,  and  their  Brother  Protestants  found  it  impossi* 
ble  to  defea^i  arguments  based  upon  the  radical  princi- 
ples of  the  reformation.  The  churchmen  became  more 
prelatic^  attd  the  Puritans  more  fanatic;  the  one  con- 
tendin^^hat  the  Episcopal  order  was  innately  inde-  \\ 
pendent  of  the  priesthood,  and  the  others  warring  on  " 
love  lock^  and  archery  sj^orts,  as  vehemently  as  on 
church  n0Sisic  and  vestmem  s.  The  weak  King  James 
published  Ps  Book  of  Sports^nd  Orders  in  Council  to 
encourage  Whitsun  ales  and  Hlbrris  dances  of  Sundays ; 
Laud^  ClNOples's  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  strove  to 
make  "  tho^pigh  "  riddance  of  the  crop-eared  knaves ; 
etill  the  parly  spread  through  the  rural  districts,  em- 
bracing in  its  circles  not  Only  artisans  and  country  folk, 
but  many  dtstinguished  scholars,  able  commoners,  and 
even  some  of  Ihe  peerage. 

The  two  first*  Stuarts,  by  ^^hing  obedience  into  strict 
coi^formity,  hdlcf  forced  a  junction  between  republicanism 
and  Puritanism.  At  James's  accession,  the  Puritans  were 
amonff  the  most  loyal  in  England ;  yet  that  same  gener- 
iation  lived  to  take  oif  his  son's  head,  and  to-change  the 
whole  fabric  of  the  government.  Scotch  Presbyteriah- 
i^^m  excited  and  aided  this  change,  Henderson  and  Gil- 
lespie being  the  natural  allies  of  Calamy,  Selden,  and 
the  Yanes.  A  common  policy  and  a  common  heresy 
\  ound  England  and  Scotland  in  as  close  unity  Q,a  the 
n  iture  of  the  two  nations  allowed. 

To  both  parties  Ireland  was  a  hateful  name.  Noth- 
ing good,  in  their  eyes,  could  come  out  of  that  Nazareth. 


% 


' ' 


■jfe'^ 


.  % 


1 


PROTESTANT ''REFORMATIOII  INWRELAXD. 


97 


In  Scotland,  there  were  many,  who,  "  foreseeing  that  Ice- 
land must  be  the  stage  to  act  upon,  it  being  unsettled, 
and  many  forfeited  lands  therein  altogether  wasted, 
proceeded  to  push  for  fortunes  in  that  kingdom."  *  The 
Puritans  of  England,  with  their  brethren  in  America, 
exclaimed,  ^<  Cursed  be  he  that  holdeth  back  his  sword 
from  blood !  yea,  cursed  be  he  that  maketh  not  his  sword 
drunk  with  Irish  blood ! "  f 

In  this  spirit  the  plantation  of  the  northern  lands  was 
undertaken  by  the  Scotch  ;  in  this  spirit  war  was  made 
by  the  Puritans.  It  may  be  conjectured  how  the  natives 
were  to  fare  at  the  hands  of  both. 

Charles's  licentious  court  and  excessive  taxation  gave 
his  enemies  texts  enough  for  seditious  sermons.  From 
his  accession  till  his  forced  flight  from  London  to  throw 
himself  on  the  country,  he  was  unhappy  in  his  &vorites, 
his  measures,  and  his  temper.  The  ship  money  and  the 
property  tax,  though  not  the  causes,  were  the  fuel  of  the 
faction  which,  in  truth,  began  with  the  Puritan  preachers. 
The  king,  as  head  of  the  church  and  patron  of  the 
bishops,  was  from  the  first  their  chief  "target,  and  their 
followers  were  only  logical  in  extending  hostility  to  his 
temporal,  as  well  as  his  spiritual  supremacy.  The 
Irish  Catholic  leaders  saw  clearly  into  the  king's  dangers, 
and  when  we  find  them  overlooking  his  duplicity,  excus- 
ing his  dishonor,  and  going  three  fourths  of  the  way  to 
patch  up  broken  covenants  with  him,  we  should  remem- 
ber that  they  did  not  yieW  so  much  from  servility  as 
because,  at  bottom,  his  cause  was  their  own.  His  deliv- 
erance was  their  hope,  as  his  prostration  would  inevitably 
let  in  the  accumulated  Puritan  deluge  upon  them  and' 
their  people.  * 

Events  in  England  hurried  rapidly  on ;  the  controversy 
between  the  king  and  his  Parliament  was  daily  becom- 

*  Montgomery  Manuscript,  quoted  in  McNevin's  Confiscation  of 
Ulster. 

t  The  Simple  Cobbler  of  Agawam,  in  America.  London  reprint,  1647. 
This  work  was  written  by  Rev.  Nathaniel  Ward,  pastor  of  Agawam, 
near  Plymouth,  Massachusetts.  Ward  also  drew  the  first  charter  of 
ti^t  colony.    He  returned  to  England,  and  died  there  in  1059. 


1 


98 


.ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    TUB 


ing  more  imbitt^red,  and  Irish  affairs  more  ifreqaent 
subjects  of  deba.,^.  In  1642,  the  king  suddenly  fled  from 
London,  and  sent  the  prince  and  queen,  for  safety,  to  H^- 
land.  The  Parliament  proceeded  to  raise  an  array,^  ana, 
to  remodel  the  Reformed  Church  on  Puritan  princlplaii; 
Presbyterianism,  recognized  as  the  church  of  ScotliHid  iti 
1580,  was  now  declared  to  be  the  church  of  England* 

In  June,  1643,  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  Diviries 
met  in  Henry  Vll.*s  Chapel.  The  parliamentary  or- 
dinance had  summoned  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  per- 
sons by  pame  to  this  con  vocation  —  ten  lords  and  twenty 
commoners,  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  divines.  Scot- 
land was  represented  by  four  divines  and  two  laymen  ; 
from  Ireland,  Archbishop  Usher  and  "  Jxjshua  Hoyle,  D. 
D., "  of  Dublin,  were  invited.  Neither  of  these  persons  an- 
swereA^he  summons.  For  four  years  this  assembly  sat, 
and  besides  "  the  Westminster  (Jonfession  of  Faith,"  it 
originated  "  the  solemn  league  and  covenant,"  which  was 
ratified  by  the  English  Pariiament  in  1643,  and  the 
Scotch  Parliament  in  1644.*  This  memorable  treaty 
bound  its  signers  to  attempt  "  the  reformation  and  defence 
of  religion,  the  honor  and  happiness  of  the  king,  and 
the  peace  and  safety  of  the  three  kingdoms  of  Scotland, 
England,  and  Ireland ;"  "  the  preservation  of  the  reformed 
religion  in  the  church  of  Scotland  ; "  to  endeavor  "  to 
bring  the  churches  of  God  in  the  three  kingdoms  to  the 
nearest  conjunction  and  uniformity  in  religion;"  and  "in 
like  manner,  without  respect  of  persons,  [to]  endeavor 
the  extirpation  of  Popery,  prelacy,  superstition,  heresy, 
fchism,  profaneness,"  ♦♦in  the  three  kingdoms."!  Further, 
<*to  endeavor  the  discovery  of  all  such  as  have  been,  or 
shall  be,  incendiaries,  malignants,  or  evil  instruments  by 
hindering  the  reformation  of  religion,  dividing  the  king 
from  his  people,  or  one  of  the  kmgdoms  fVom  one  an- 
other "  -!-  that  is,  all  Irish  Catholics,  lay  and  clerical, 
were  to  be  so  ♦♦  discovered "  and  brought  "  to  condign 
punishment."     "And  this  covenant  we  make"— ^ so  it 

*  King  Charles  II.  was  constrained,  when  in  custody  of  the  Scottii3i 
PqTenfmters,  to  sign  **  the  solemn  league  "  at  Spey,  Juno  23,  1650|  w4 
ag^li^  to  re-sign  it  at  Scone,  January!,  1661. 

t  Ij^^thepngton's  ^istc4r7  of  ^9  wes|n)inster  Asaemhlj,  p. 


.''&k. 


* 


♦J* 


PRUrEdTANT    REFORMATION   IN    IRKLAND. 


concluded  —  "in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  the 
searcher  of  all  hearts,  with  a  true  intention  to  perform 
the  same,  as  we  shall  answer  at  that  great  day  when  the 
secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be  disclosed;  most  humbly 
beseeching  the  Lord  to  strengthen  as  by  his  Holy  Spint 
for  this  end,  and  to  bless  our  desires  and  proceedings 
with  such  success  as  may  be  deliverance  and  safety  to 
his  people.''  Such  was  the  declaration  of  war  against 
Catholics,  issued  by  the  learned  Assembly  of  Westmin- 
ster, and  confirmed  by  the  two  Parliaments  of  England 
and  Scotland.  Under  this  covenant  the  united  forces  of 
Britain  were  to  march  against  all  who  could  not  call 
God  to  witness  their  adoption  of  "  the  solemn  league 
and  covenant."* 

Charles  1.,  as  soon  as  the  covenant  appeared,  issued 
his  condemnation  of  it ;  all  the  British  prelates,  of 
course,  did  likewise ;  but  the  Presbyterians,  Independents, 
and  Brownists,  of  the  Long  Parliament,  armed  in  its  de- 
fence, and  their  Scottish  colleagues  did  likewise.  Theit 
came  the  dvil  war;  the  king  a-field,  and  the  rebels  in 
possession  of  the  capital;  Strafford  beheaded,  and  Crom'^ 
well  lieutenant  general  of  the  army.  > 


■«& 


CHAPTER    VL        *" 

TBE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  PURTTANS  IN  IRELAND.  —  EXTEBMlNlf^ 

'TION  THEIR  POLICY.  — ULSTER  RISING  OP  1641 NEW  CATHOLid 

CONFEDERACY   FOUNDED  BY  RORY  O'MOORE.  — OATH  G¥   C0N« 

FEDERATION GENERAL  INSURRECTION.  —  CATHOLIC  LEGISLA- 

TION PETERS  AND  JEROME. -OWEN  ROE  ^O'NEIL  -ORMOND 

CROMWELL     IN    IRELAND.  — TBE    PURITAN    PENAL    LAWS. - 
DEATH  OF   CROMWELL. 

pRESBYTBRiANisM,  in  Scotland,  dates  froOi  1572 -—t^e 
era  of  Knox's  Book  of  Discipline;  in  Ireland,  it  may 
be  properly  dated  from  the  Montgomery  plantation,  in 
PowD ;  that  is,  from  1606.  Montgomery  originally 
obtaiiied  his  title  to  a  large  tract  in  that  county  from 


,* 


100 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


O'Neil;  James  I.  confirmed  it,  with  the  proviso  "that 
the  lands  should  be  planted  with  British  Protestants, 
and  that  no  grant  of  fee  farm  should  be  made  to  any 
person  of  mere  Irish  extraction."  Accordingly  we 
find  for  years  afterwards  a  steady  importation  of  Protes- 
tant tenants,  Shaws,  Boyds,  Keiths,  Maxwells,  and  Bay- 
leys,  all  from  Scotland.  In  the  vaults  of  Grey  Abbey, 
and  the  "  stump  of  an  old  castle  "  at  Newtown,  the  pio- 
neers of  this  emigration  had  to  abide  until  they  erected 
fitter  homesteads;  the  Montgomery  family  spent  their 
first  year  in  an  old  priory,  rooted  in  for  their  service.  In 
1609,  on  the  plea  of  a  plot,  which  was  never  proved  to 
exist,  the  six  counties  of  Ulster  were  declared  to  be 
vested  in  the  crown,  and  by  the  crown,  in  a  subsequent 
proclamation,  were  offered  to  adventurers  "well  affected  in 
religion*"   The  rules  of  the  plantation  were  simply  four: — 

"  I.  That  the  proportion  of  land  to  be  distributed  to 
"  undertakers  may  be  of  three  different  quantities.  The 
"  first  and  least  may  consist  of  so  many  parcels  of  land 
"  as  will  make  a  thousand  English  acres,  or  thereabouts ; 
"  the  second  or  middle  p/oportion,  of  so  many  parcels  as 
"  will  make  fifteen  hundred  English  acres,  or  thereabouts ; 
"  the  third,  and  greatest,  of  so  many  parcels  as  will  make 
"  two  thousand  English  acres,  or  thereabouts. 

"  II.  That  all  lands  escheated  in  every  county  may  be 
"  divided  into  four  parts,  whereof  two  parts  may  be  di- 
"  vided  into  proportions  consisting  of  a  thousand  acres 
*f  apiece,  a  third  part  into  proportions  of  fifteen  hundred 
f^  acres,  and  the  fourth  part  into  proportions  of  two  thou- 
"  acres. 
III.  That  every  proportion  be  made  a  parish,  and  a 
"  parish  church  be  erected  thereon ;  and  the  incni^jbents 
"  be  endowed  with  glebes  of  peveral  quantities,  viz. :  An 
"  incumbent  of  a  parish  of  u  thousand  acres  to  have. 
"  sixty  acres,  of  a  parish  of  fifteen  hundred  acres  to  have 
"  ninety  acres,  and  of  a  parish  of  two  thousand  adtes  to 
«  have  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres ;  and  that  the 
"  whole  tithes,  and  the  duties  of  every  parish,  be  allotted 
**  to  every  incumbent-,  besides  the  glebes  aforesaid. 

**  IV.  That  the  undertakers  of  these  lands  be  of  se% 
"  eral  sorts  —  first,   English  and  Scottish,  who  are  to 


i 


*■■ 


PROTESTANT   REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND. 


101 


* 


I 


**  plant  theit  proportions  with  English  and  Scottish  ten- 
^ants;  second,  servitors  in  Ireland,  who  may  take 
**  English  or  Irish  tenants  at  their  choice ;  third,  natives 
*'  of  those  counties,  who  are  to  be  freeholders. 

**  Following  these  four  general  principles  of  division 
**  were  special  directions  lor  each  coanty,  based  upon 
**  their  relative  statistics.  But,  before  stating  these 
**  special  directions,  it  will  be  well  to  consider  those  ap- 
*^  plicable  to  the  whole  scheme  of  the  plantation. 

<*  In  each  county,  the  authors  of  this  project  divided 
"  the  lands  escheated  into  two  divisions,  one  the  portion 
<*  of  the  church,  and  the  other  the  portion  of  the  under- 
**  takers.  The  first  was  composed  of  termon,  monas- 
"  tery,  and  mensall  or  demesne  lands ;  the  second,  of 
"  the  escheated  territories  of  the  *  late  traitors.' "  * 

The  established  clergy  was  thus  provided  for  by  the 
king,  while  the  Presbyterian  laity  were  enriched  by  the 
same  despotic  exercise  of  power.  These  latter  naturally 
organized  their  presbyteries  on  the  Scottish  plan,  and  im- 
ported their  ministers  from  Scotland.  For  some  time  the 
connection  was  intimate  and  cordial ;  but  after  a  genera- 
tion or  two,  "  the  church  of  Scotland  "  ceased  to  control 
"the  church  of  Ulster,"  and  there  was  not  a  believer  or 
elder  left  who  considered  himself  bound  by  the  decrees 
of  the  Greneral  Assembly  of  Scotland. 

While  this  new  form  of  Protestantism  was  colonizing 
in  the  north,  the  "  recusant "  Catholics  were  again  trying 
the  Parliament  to  secede,  a  second  time,  in  1623.  This 
time  they  did  not  return;  but  each  one,  sullen  or  activiBi 
according  to  bis  hnmor,  agitatec^  for  resistance  or  re*' 
mained  quietly  on  his  estate.    Thd  Qommon  people  were 


"T*" 


*  Thd  actual  di\iaion  throughout  Ulster  may  be  judged  from  this  sam- 
ple :  '•  Tyrowen  contained  of  *  avidlalde  land/  ineludiiiK  the  ecclesi- 
astical possessions,  1571  ballyboes,  or  98,187  acres ;  Coleraine,  otherwise 
O'Cahan's  country,  contained  647  ballyboes,  or  34,187  acreSf  of  which 
the  Bishop  of  Derry  claimed  termon  lands  to  the  amount  of  6843  acres ; . 
Donegal  contained  110,700  acres,  of  which  9000  acres  were  claimed 
as  termon  lands ;  Fermanagh,  commonly-  called  MuG^wire's  country, 
contained  1070  tsthes,  or  33,437  acres,  with  46  islands ;  Cavan,  O'ReiUjrs 
country,  contained  620  polls,  or  40,500  acres ;  and  Armagh  contained  77»- 
800  acres,  of  which  tbi^e  primate's  share  was  to  be  2400  acrea*  and  th0  in- 
<»unbents'  glebes  w^jpto  enjoy  4650  acres." 

9* 


m 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH    TUB 


V 


I 


>• 


■s. 


as  devoted  as  ever  to  their  old  faith  and  pastors.  A 
thousand  clergymen  still  remained  in  the  country,  secretly 
or  openly,  while  as  many  more,  from  the  colleges  of 
France,  Spain,  and  Italy,  waited  but  opportunities  to 
return. 

A  man  was  wanting  to  combine  and  give  heart  to 
the  dispersed  believers.  This  man  appearedin  Roger,  or 
Rory,  OMoore,  the  heir  of  a  line  of  brave  ancentors; 
whose  father  and  grandfather  had  both  died  in  defence 
of  the  church  and  countiy.  Carried  into  Spain  when  a 
child,  he  returned  soon  auer  Charles's  accession.  Edu- 
cated in  iall  the  science  of  that  age,  with  the  son  of 
Hugh  O'Neil  as  his  friend  and  fellow-student,  he  grew 
in  patriotism  as  in  years.*  His  favorite  project  was  to 
unite  the  Milesian  and  Norman  Catholics  in  one  holy 
brotherhood.  To  this  end  he  gave  up  his  natural  right 
to  the  lands  of  Leix,  and  with  his  brother  Lysagh,  made 
a  home  at  Ballynagh,  "  near  the  Boyne."  He  rode  from 
castle  to  castle,  reasoning  and  exhorting  with  men  of 
various  minds.  So  clearly  did  the  people  understand  his 
labors,  that  this  was  their  watxjhword  —  "  Our  trust  is  in 
God  and  our  Lady  and  Rory  O' Moore."  He  was  equally 
successful  with  the  noble  in  his  hall  and  the  farmer  in 
his  bawn.  Who,  indeed,  could  resist  this  self-denying 
man,  as  he  begged  the  very  holders  of  his  own  acres 
to  unite  with  him  for  their  joint  preservation?  "  Keep 
my  lands,"  said  he,  "  but  help  me  to  preserve  our  altars." 
He  renounced  with  all  solemnity  just  claims  to  a  restora- 
tion of  his  estates,  and  urged  only  unity  for  the  common 
'fiiith  and  common  defence.  Could  heroism  rise  higher 
above  the  earth  ?  f   m^ 

In  1640,  O'Moore  saw  that  his  patient  projects  began 
to  operate.  Every  remonstrance,  as  he  expected,  was  a 
failure ;  the  lords  of  the  Pale  were  rudely  repulsed  from 

■p— I    I    !■■     ii—^— w^i— ^^—■■■■M    I     null  Mil     ■■■11^^— —III      ■    III    I  .Mil         m         I  nil.  ■    .1.    I      -  .1-  —  I— I..I.I  ^■-.     ii.i  .11  ■ 

*  Young  O'Neil  was  found  strangled  in  his  bed  at  Brussels ;  foul 
play  was  suspected  on  the  i)art  of  the  British  agents  there. 

t  Parnell's  sketch  of  O'Moore  is  the  best  and  briefest  I  have  met: 
*<  Roger  Q' Moore  possessed  all  the  qualities  of  the  heroic  —  charactnr, 
talents,  promptitude,  courage,*  and  love  of  country ;  his  person  was  re- 
markably graceful,  his  aspect  dighifled,  his  manners  courteous."  —  Penal 
Laws,  p.  113.  —  O'Moore's  daughter  Anna  was  tUt  mother  of  Patrick 
Sazsfield. 


:^i* 


%■ 


PKOTBBTANT   RBFURMATION   IN   IBBLAND. 


■ 


,!:> 


# 


1001. 

the  castle,  and  ordered  to  quit  Dublin ;  an  intercepted 
letter  from  the  Earl  of  Essex  to  the  deputy,  advising  their 
transportation  to  the  West  Indies,  was  printed ;  and lastlyj 
three  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand  acres  of  their  land 
in  Leinster  was  declared  to  be  confiscated.  Driven  on 
by  these  incentives,  Preston,  Lord  Gormanstown,  on 
the  part  of  the  Norman  aristocracy,  met  Rory  O' Moore, 
on  the  hill  of  Knoc-Crofty,  near  Tara,  and  assured  him 
of  their  desire  for  union  and  cooperation.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  second  Catholic  confederation.  On 
the  23d  October,  1641,  impatient,  perhaps,  of  O' Moore's 
slower  policy,  Sir  Phelim  O'Neil  appeared  in  arms  in 
the  north.*  Appointing  four  captains,  and  dividing  his 
forces  into  four  divisions,  he  assailed  simultaneously  the 
chief  garrisons  of  the  English.  Dungannon,  the  home 
of  his  ancestors,  Strabane,  Armagh,  Portadown,  Cav^ni 
and  Newry  were  before  three  months  in  his  keepiqg^ 
Except  the  posts  of  Dcrry,  Coleraine,  and  CarrickAergus, 
the  English  retained  no  strongholds  in  Ulster.  In  De« 
cember,  the  Leinster  lords  equipped  a  confederate  force, 
and  Kilkenny,  Wexford,  Ross,  and  Waterford  opened 
their  gates  to  Lord  Mountgarrett  and  his  subordinate 
officers.  The  last  day  of  the  same  month,  the  Irish  of 
Tipperary,  under  Philip  O'Dwyer,  took  Cashel,  and  about 
the  same  time.  Limerick,  Clare,  and  the  Catholics  of 
Connaught  joined  in  the  general  insurrection. 

At  Lurgan  and  Portadown,  O'Neil  certainly  showed 
a  revengeful  and  merciless  spirit  in  refusing  quarter. 
This  conduct  contrasts  strongly  with  the  clemency  he 
exhibited  at  the  capture  of  Ballaghie,  where  he  allowed 
the  defender,  Conway,  <*  to  march  out  with  his  men,  and 
to  carry  away  trunks.  With  plate  {^nd  money,  to  Antrim."  f 

♦  The  pretended  discovery  by  Clotworthy's  servant,  CConnally,  of  a 
general  massacre  of  the  Protestants,  is  adnurably  analyxed  by  Matthew 
Carey,  of  Philadelphia,  to  ^hose  memory  I  offer  my  humble  tribute 
of  homage.  (For  this  analysis,  see  Appendix,  p.  371.)  Lord  Conor 
McGuire  and  Colonel  Hugh  McMahon  vrere  arrested  in  Dublin,  on  the 
23d  of  October,  on  that  scoundrel's  testimony.  McMahon  was  dreadfully 
racked,  but  made  no  confession ;  Lord  McGuire  died  on  the  scaffold,  at 
Tyburn,  in  1644,  declaring  his  unalterable  adhesion  to  the  Catlmlic 
faith.  McMahon  -was  afterwards  one  of  the  supreme  council  of  the 
Catholic  oonfedcraey. 

t  Carte's  Life  of  Ormond,  vol.  i.  p.  188. 


104 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


"We  must  remember  that  in  this  interval  of  a  fortnight 
occurred  the  terrible  massacre,  on  Island  Magee,  by  the 
Presbyterian  garrison  of  Carrickfergus.  Upon  this  islet, 
accessible  on  the  land  side  at  low  water,  dwelt  three 
thousand  souls.  On  the  night,  some  say  of  the  1st,  some 
of  the  6th  of  November,  the  Covenanters  surrounded 
the  island  on  three  sides,  driving  the  entire  population, 
.vith  sword  and  bayonet,  towards  the  clefts  of  the  high, 
rocky  sea-coast.  The  entire  population,  "  men,  women, 
and  children,  were  cruelly  massacred,"  says  Carte ;  some 
were  killed  on  the  shore,  the  rest  drowned  in  the  tumultu- 
ous waves  of  the  North  Channel.  We  hear  much  of  Sicil- 
ian Vespers,  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  of  Albigcnsian 
massacres;  but  what  English  book  mentions  the  slaughter 
of  the  three  thousand  Catholics  at  Island  Magee  ?  *  ,| 

So  closed  the  year  1641,  than  which  no  poor  year  was  i- 
ever  more  slandered.   The  "great  Popish  massacre"  was   * 
an  invention  of  the  Puritans  to  inculpate  the  queen  and 
her  friends,  to  throw  discredit  on  the  king's  "  graces,"  and 
to  justify  their  own  military  preparations.     The  credu- 
lity of  that  age,  in  which  Gates,  Bedlow,  and  Danger- 
field  were  educated,  was  easily  imposed  on.    Even  grave^ 
historians  have  adopted  the  inventions  of  the  Puritan' 
broadsheets  of  1641  and  1642.     The  Earl  of  Warwick 
sets  down  the  number  massacred  at  two  hundred  thousand 
souls;  Sir  John  Temple  at  three  hundred  thousand;  the 
historian  Rapin,  at  one   hundred   and  fifty-four   thou-  . 
,9and;    Clarendon,   at  forty   or   fifty  thousand;   Milton 
at  eighty  thousand ;  Hume  at  forty  thousand ;  Carte  at 
twelve   thousand;   Dr.    Warner  at  four  thousand   and 
twenty-eight,  which  "in  his  conscience,"  he  takes  to  be 
an   exaggeration!     Buch   are  the  discrepancies  of  the 
strictly  Protestant  historians.     Let  us  consider  the  true     . 
basis  of  calculation  — the  then  population  of  Ireland.f  In     I 
1641,  the  total  was  but  one  millon  four  hundred  and 


m 


^if 


* 
f. 


*  The  tradition  of  Ulster  relates  that  three  of  the  male  inhabitants 
only  escaped,  and  that  from  them  the  Catholic  McGees  of  the  north  of 
Ireland  are  all  descended.  It  is^  a  source  of  pride  to  the  present  writer 
that  the  blood  of  that  martyred  clan  flows  in  bis  veins. 

t  Sir  William  Petty's  Survey,  in  Dublin  Society's  Library.  Dr.  Lin- 
gard  has  proved  that  there  is  no  mention  whatever  i^  a  Protestant  mas- 
sacre in  the  state  papers  of  1641 ! 


«r" 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


105 


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forty-six  thousand ;  of  which,  by  Protestant  computation^ 
the  Protestants  were  as  two  in  eleven,  or  two  hundred  and 
twent^five  thousand  in  all  the  four  provinces.  Of  these 
fully  one  half  lived  in  Dublin  and  other  walled  towns, 
which  the  English  never  lost,  and,  at  most,  but  twenty 
thousand  were  residents  in  Ulster.  We  are  told  by  a 
contemporary  that  six  thousand,  out  of  the  single  county 
of  Fermanagh,  were  saved,  notwithstanding  that  it  was 
the  county  of  Lord  McGuire,  whose  recent  seizure  must 
have  excited  the  indignation  of  his  wide-spread  clans- 
ihen.  But  why  argue  upon  it?  Whoever  will  examine 
candidly  the  evidence  of  the  pretended  massacre  will 
find  that  it  has  no  wide  foundation.  Instances  of  indi- 
vidual revenge,  of  unnecessary  bloodshed,  no  doubt  there 
were  ;  the  old  proprietors,  in  some  cases,  washed  out  the 
title  deeds  of  the  Puritan  farmers  in  their  blood,  and 
some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Portadown,  Monaghan,  and 
other  towns,  were  butchered  by  the  conquerors;  but  a 
general  or  even  local  "  massacre  "  never  occurred.  With 
Warner  we  assert,  "  it  is  easy  enough  to  demonstrate  the 
falsehood  of  the  relation  of  every  Protestant  historian  of 

I  the  rebellion,"*  and  with  Edmund  Burke,  who  examined, 
with  Dr.  Leland,  the  entire  evidence,  we  must  express 
our  utter  astonishment  that  writers  of  "pleasant  his- 
tories" should  yet  venture  to  reprint  thp  fifty  dmes 
refuted  lies  of  the  Puritan  "  broad  sheets."  f 

During  the  winter  of  1641,  O* Moore  and  his  coadju- 
tors were  not  idle.  In  March,  the  lords  of  "  the  Pale,** 
for  the  sake  of  peace,  tried  one  last  remonstrance,  which 
took  its  name  from  Trim,  where  it  w^s  agreed  on.  This 
document  recites  the  grievances  of  the  body,  protests 
their  loyalty,  and  prays  for  relief.     It  was  received  by 

"the  king's  commissioners,  but  no  answer  was  returned. 
At  Kells,  in  the  same  neighborhood,  a  provincial  synod 
for  Ulster,  summoned  by  the  primate,  Hugh  O'Neil, 
assembled.     With  a  politic  motive  this  synod  suggested 

-a  national  council,  and  adjourned  to  meet  it  at  Kil- 
kenny, on  the  10th  of  May  following.  On  the  8th 
of  April,  King  Charles,  in   his   speeoh  to  Parliament, 

*  Warner's  History  of  Ireland,  reign  of  Charles  I. 
t  Prior's  life  of  Burke. 


106 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


: 


declared  that  he  "  would  never  consent  to  the  toleration 
of  the  Popish  profession,  or  the  abolition  of  the  laws  then 
in  force  against  Popish  recusants."  He  expressed  his 
determination  of  crossing  the  channel  personally  to  head 
the  forces  against  "  the  detestable  rebels."  The  Puritan 
Parliament,  however,  withheld  his  supplies  for  their  own 
reasons,  and  at  the  same  time  induced  the  Scotch  Par- 
liament to  send  over  two  thousand  five  hundred  men, 
under  General  Monroe,  who  landed  at  Carrickfergus,  on 
the  15th  of  April,  one  week  after  the  king's  speech  was 
delivered. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  Irish  hierarchy  assem- 
bled at  Kilkenny,  on  the  10th  of  May,  and  proceeded  to 
deliberate  on  the  state  of  the  kingdom.  The  archbishops 
of  Armagh,  Tuam,  and  Cashel,  six  bishops  and  five 
proxies,  were  present.  As  the  only  remaining  estate  of  ' 
the  Celtic  constitution,  as  members  of  an  order  which 
in  that  age  possessed  throughout  Europe  legislative 
powers,  and  as  the  actual  guides  of  the  body  of  the 
people,  their  right  to  do  so  is  indisputable.  This  august 
council  issued  a  manifesto  to  the  Catholics  of  Ireland, 
calling  on  them  to  confederate  for  the  common  defence. 
They  then  ordained  the  following  basis  of  confedera- 
tion :  — 

**I.  Whereas  the  war  which  now  in  Ireland  the  ^ 
"  Catholics  do  maintain  against  sectaries,  and  chiefly 
"  against  Puritans,  for  the  defence  of  the  Catholic  reli- 
**  gion,  —  for  the  maintenance  of  the  prerogative  and 
"royal  rights  of  our  gracious  King  Charles,  —  for  our 
"  gracious  queen,  so  unworthily  abused  by  the  Puritans, 
"  —  for  the  honor,  safety,  and  health  of  their  royal  issue, 
"  — for  to  avert  and  repair  the  injuries  done  to  them,—  ^ 
"  for  the  conversion  of  the  just  and  lawful  safeguard,  * 
"  liberties,  and"  rights  of  Ireland,  —  and,  lastly,  for  the 
"  defence  of  their  own  lives,  fortunes,  lands,  and  posses- 
"  sions ; — whereas  this  war  is  undertaken  for  the  foresaid 
"  causes  against  unlawful  usurpers,  oppressors,  and  the 
"  enemies  of  the  Catholics,  chiefly  Puritans,  and  that 
"  hereof  we  are  informed,  as  well  by  diyiirs  and  true  re- 
"  monstrances  of  divers  provinces,  counlles,  and  noble- 
"  men)  as  also  by  the  unanimous  consent  and  agreement 


4:\_ 


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PROTESTANT    REFORMATION   IN    IRBLAND. 


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**  of  P*    H^st  the  whole  kingdom  in  this  war  and  union,— *• 
rirefore  declare  that  war,  openly  CatboliC)  to  bo 


u 


we 


*'  lawi^U  and  just ;  in  which  war,  if  some  of  the  Catholics 
**  be  found  to  proceed  out  of  some  particular  and  unjust 
"  title,  —  covetousness,  cruelty,  revenge,  or  hatred,  or  any 
"  such  unlawful  private  intentions,  —we  declare  them 
"  therein  grievously  to  sin,  and  therefore  worthy  to  be 

<i"  punished  and  restrained  with  ecclesiastical  censures,  if^ 

*  <*  advised  thereof,  they  do  not  amend. 

"  II.     Whereas  the  adversaries  do  spread  divers'  ru- 

«*^'  mors,  do  write  divers  letters,  and,  under  the  king's 
*'  name,  do  print  proclamations,  which  are  not  the  king's, 
"  by  which  means  divers  plots  and  dangers  may  ensue 
"  unto  our  nation  ;  we  therefore,  to  stop  the  way  of  un- 
"  truth,  and  forgeries  of  political  adversaries,  do  will  and 
"  command  that  no  such  rumors,  letters,  or  proclama- 
"  tions  may  have  place  or  belief  until  it  be  known  in 
"  a  national  conncil,  whether  they  truly  proceed  from 
"  the  king,  left  to  his  own  freedom,  and  until  agents  of 
"  this  kingdom,  hereafter  to  be  appointed  by  the  National 
"  Council^  have  free  passage  to  his  majesty,  whereby  the 
"  kingdom  may  be  certainly  informed  of  his  majesty's 
"  intention  and  will. 

"  *  III.     We  straightly  command  all  our  inferiors,  as 

I*'  well  churchmen  as  laymen,  to  make  no  alienation, 
"  comparison,  or  difference  between  provinces,  cities, 
"  towns,  or  families  ;  and  lastly,  not  to  begin  or  forward 
"  any  emulations  or  comparisons  whatsoever. 

"  *  IV.  That  in  every  province  of  Ireland  there  be  a 
"  council  made  up,  both  of  clergy  and  nobility,  in  which 
*^  council  shall  be  so  many  persons,  at  least,  as  are  coun- 
"  ties  in  the  province,  and  out  of  every  city  or  notable 
"  town  two  persons. 

"  *  V.  Let  one  general  council  of  the  whole  kingdom 
"  be  made,  both  of  the  clergy,  nobility,  cities,  and  nota- 
"  ble  towns,  in  which  council  there  shall  be  three  out  of 
"  every  province,  and  out  of  every  city  one ;  or  where 
"  cities  are  not,  out  of  the  chiefest  towns.  To  this 
"  council  the  provincial  councils  shall  have  subordi- 
*'  nation,  and-^ora  thence  to  it  may  be  appealed,  until 


108 


AtTfiMPTS   TO  ESTABLISH   TUB 


**  this  National  council  shall  have   opportunity   to  sit 
•*  together* 

"  *  VL  Let  a  faithfu]  inventory  be  made,  in  every 
**  province,  of  the  murders,  burnings,  and  other  cruelties 
**  which  are  permitted  by  the  Puritan  enemies,  with  a 
'*  quotation  of  the  place,  day,  cause,  manner,  and  per- 
**  sons,  and  other  circumstances,  subscribed  by  one  of 
"  public  authority. 

"  *  VII.  We  do  declare  and  judge  all  and  every 
**  such  as  do  forsake  this  union,  nght  for  our  enemies, 
"  accompany  them  in  their  war,  defend  or  in  any  way 
*^  assist  them,  to  be  excommunicated,  and  by  these 
•*  presents  do  excommunicate  them. 

"  *  VIII.  We  will  and  declare  all  those  that  murder, 
"dismember,  or  grievously  strike,  all  thieves,  unlawful 
**  spoilers,  robbers  of  any  goods,  to  be  excommunicated, 
"  and  so  to  remain  till  they  completely  amend  and  sat* 
"  isfy,  no  less  than  if  they  were  namely  proclaimed  ex- 
•*  communicated.' " 

Before  admission  int-o  this  confedei^dcy,  the  following 
oath  was  presciribed  to  be  publicly  taken  on  the  holy 
evangelists,  before  the  altar  of  a  church  :  -— 

"  *  I,  A.  B.,  do  profess,  swear,  and  protest  before  God 
**  and  his  saints  and  angels,  that  I  will,  during  my  life, 
"  bear  true  faith  and  allegiance  to  my  sovereign  lord, 
"  Charles,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  Great  Britain, 
"  France,  and  Ireland,  and  to  his  heirs  and  lawful  aucces- 
"  sors ;  and  that  1  will,  to  my  power,  daring  my  life,  de- 
"  fend,  uphold,  and  maintain,  all  his  and  their  just  pre- 
"  rogatives,  estates,  and  rights,  the  power  and  privilege  of 
**  the  Parliament  of  this  realm,  the  fundamental  laws  of 
"  Ireland,  the  free  exercise  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  and 
"  religion  throughout  this  land,  and  the  lives,  just  liberties, 
**  possessions,  estates,  and  rights  of  all  those  that  have 
"  taken,  or  that  shall  take,  this  oath,  and  perform  the  con- 
"  tents  thereof ;  and  that  I  will  obey  and  ratify  kU  the 
"  orders  and  decrees  made,  and  to  be  made,  by  the  su- 
**  preme  Council  of  the  Confederate  Catholics  of  this 
'*  kingdom,  concerning  the  said  public  cause;  and  I  will 
''  not  seek,  directly  or  indirectly,  any  pardon  or  protec* 


V 


■I 


^-'M 


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i 


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PROTESTANT    KEFOUMATION    IN   IRELAND. 


109 


il 

I, 

t- 

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Hi 

B* 
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ill 


|C" 


"  tion  for  any  act  done,  or  to  be  done,  touching  this 
"  general  cause,  without  the  consent  of  the  major  part  of 
"  the  said  council ;  and  that  I  will  not,  directly  or  indi- 
"  rectly,  do  any  act  j3r  acts  that  shall  prejudice  the  said 
"  cause,  but  will,  to  the  hazard  of  my  life  and  estate, 
"  assist,  prosecute,  and  maintain  the  same. 

"  *  Moreover,  I  do  further  swear,  that  I  will  not  accept 
"  of  or  submit  unto  any  peace,  made,  or  to  be  made, 
"  with  the  said  Confederate  Catholics,  without  the  con- 
*'  sent  and  approbation  of  the  general  assembly  of  the 
*'  said  Confederate  Catholics,  and  for  the  preservation 
*'  and  strengthening  of  the  association  and  union  of  the 
*'  kingdom.  That  upon  any  peace  or  accommodation  to 
*'  be  made  or  concluded  with  the  said  Confederate  Cath- 
*'  olics,  as  aforesaid,  I  will,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power, 
^'  insist  upon  and  maintain  the  ensuing  propositions, 
"  until  a  peace,  as  aforesaid,  be  made,  and  the  matters 
**  to  be  agreed  upon  in  the  articles  of  peace  be  estab- 
"  lished  and  secured  by  Parliament.  So  help  me  God, 
"  and  his  holy  gospel.' " 

To  cover  the  assembling  and  sitting  of  this  council, 
th,e  JLjgijister  confederates,  so  far  as  armed,  under  Mount,- 
and  O'Moore,  had  formed  their  camp  in  Kildare, 
between  Dublin  ^nd  Kilkenny.  On  the  15th  of  April, 
they  were  attacked  and  defeated,  near  the  town  of  Athy, 
*  by  the  royal  forces  under  Lord  Ormond.*  Sir  Morgan 
Cavanagh,  one  of  the  leading  confederates,  was  slain, 
and  his  head  carried  to  Dublin,  where  it  was  impaled. 
O'Moore  fell  back  on  his  own  district,  and  Mountgarrett 
on  his,  to  recruit  a  stronger  force.  From  this  day,  Rory 
O'Moore  disappears  from  the  scene,  and  we  hear  of  him 
next  as  dying  at  Kilkenny,  cTuring  the  ensuing  winter.f 

Nothing  discouraged,  the  council  called  a  general  as- 
sembly of  the  Catholics  of  the  kingdom  for  the  foUow- 

•  This  affair  Is  sometimes  called  the  "  battle  of  Kilrush,"  and  some* 
times  the  «•  battle  of  Blackball  Heath." 

t  Carte's  Life  of  Ormond.  The  statement  in  McNevin's  Confiscation 
of  Ulster,  that  he  retired  to  the  Fews  in  Armagh,  and  ended  his  days 
in  peace,  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  must  be  an  error.  Cromwell  and 
^Ormond never  could  tolerate  such  a  inan> 

10 


110 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


ing  23d  of  October,  the  anniversary  of  Sir  Phelim 
O'Neil's  rising,  and  despatched  agents  to  France,  Spain, 
and  Rome,  to  procure  experienced  officers,  arms,  and 
alliance.  Daring  the  spring  and  summer,  the  rising  pro* 
ceeded  with  great  spirit.  Limerick  was  taken  by  the 
confederates,  under  Lord  Muskerry  and  General  Barry ; 
Galway  was  seized  on  by  the  young  men  of  the  city, 
who,  having  captured  an  English  ship,  laden  with  arms, 
then  in  port,  shut  the'  gates,  entered  a  church,  and  took 
the  oath  of  confederation ;  Liscarroll,  one  of  the  strongest 
places  in  Munster,  was  taken,  after  a  siege  of  thirteen 
days ;  only  Cork  and  Youghal,  of  the  southern  towns, 
remained  with  the  English.  The  garrison  of  Dublin, 
reenforced  by  a  thousand  horse,  under  Lord  Lisle,  had 
taken  Trim,  and  relieved  Birr  and  some  other  forts  in 
Kildare  and  Queen's  counties.  Lord  Leven  had  reen-  \\ 
forced  Munroe,  in  Ulster,  and  their  joint  forces  amounted 
to  10,000  men ;  but  they  did  not  move  from  their  gar- 
rison. The  campaign  of  1642  was,  on  the  whole,  un- 
favorable to  the  Puritan  cause,  although  no  national 
trial  of  strength  had  yet  taken  place.  # 

In  the  summer  of  1642,  the  distinguished  Irish  gen- 
eral Owen  Roe  O'Neil,  leaving  the  Spanish  service,  in 
which  he  had  won  an  enviable  reputation  by  his  defence 
of  Arras  and  other  exploits,  arrived  at  Doo  Castle,  on  the 
Mayo  coast,  and  proceeded  to  Leitrim.  Sir  Phelim's  insur- 
rection had,  by  this  time,  begun  to  flag,  and  confidence 
in  his  military  capacity  was  much  shaken.  A  graduate 
of  the  King's  Inns,  his  purely  legal  education  did  not 
well  suit  him  for  military  life.  Owen  gathered  the  frag- 
ments of  his  cousin's  army,  and  in  the  fastnesses  of  Lei- 
trim, "  nursed  them  "  into  discipline.  He  fixed  his  head- 
quarters at  Charlemont,  and  was  cheerfully  recognized 
as  general-in-chief  of  the  northern  confederates.  A  wiser  ( 
choice  could  not  have  been  made.  He  was  every  way  f 
worthy  of  the  old  sword  of  Hugh  O'Neil,  which  heg 
carried.  Young  Preston,  of  Gormanstown,  who  had 
served  with  some  distinction  in  France,  and  in  defence 
of  Louvain,  returned  at  the  same  time,  and  was  made 
general-in-chief  of  the  Leinster  confederates ;  Richard 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


Ill 


\  « 


1«# 

ce 
de 
rd 


0*Farre!l,  Oliver  Synnott,  and  other  Catholic  officers 
from  abroad,  also  arrived  and  took  service. 

Muskprry  and  Barry  commanded  in  the  south,  and 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Barke  and  the  three  Telge  O'Kelleys 
headed  the  confederates  in  Connaught.  The  confed- 
eracy might  now  be  considered  complete. 

Our  concern  is  rather  with  the  policy  of  this  holy 
war  than  with  the  military  men  or  battles.  These  we 
leave  to  the  national  writers,  while  we  proceed  tJO  ex- 
plain the  designs  and  objects  of  the  dignified  assem- 
bly, which,  at  the  call  of  the  hierarchy,  met  at  Kilkenny, 
•fv     i    in  October,  1642.  •  ♦'' 

The  Puritan  lords  justices  Parsons  and  Borlase  con- 
tinued to  act  under  sanction  of  the  Long  Parliament, 
against  the  Catholics;  under  them,  Onond  commanded 
in  Leinster,  the  Earl  of  Cork  in  Munster,  Clanrickarde 
in  the  west,  and  Munroe  in  the  north.  Their  express 
orders  in  council  were  "  to  spare  no  Irishman."  In  Eng- 
land, the  civil  war  had  begun,  and  the  parliamcntarain 
party,  under  Essex,  were  ordered  to  besiege  the  king  in 
Nottingham. 

The  "  general  assembly  "  at  Kilkenny  was  composed 
of  11  bishops,  14  temporal  peers,  and  226  duly  elected 
commoners.  The  extensive  mansion  of  Sir  Robjert  Shea, 
near  the  market-place,  was  their  Senate,  where,  after 
hearing  mass  at  the  cathedral,  they  gathered  for  consul- 
tation. Peers,  bishops,  and  commoners  sat  in  one  cham- 
ber, the  dining  hall  of  the  mansion.  Patrick  Darcy,  the 
most  eminent  Catholic  lawyer  of  the  time,  acted  as  chan- 
cellor ;  Nicholas  Plunkett  was  speaker ;  Cusack,  attorney 
;  general ;  and  Father  Thomas  O'Quirke,  of  the  Domin- 
ican convent  at  Tralee,  was  chaplain.  This  assembly 
resolved  that  their  office  was  "  to  consult  of  an  order  for 
their  own  affairs  till  bis  majesty's  wisdom  had  settled  the 
present  troubles."  They  then  spent  a  week  enrolling  con- 
"  federates.  After  that,  a  committee  to  draw  up  a  form 
of  provisional  government  was  chosen,  of  which  Lords 

*  In  1847,  the  present  writer,  in  company  with  Mr.  Gavah  Duffy  and 
Dr.  Cane,  of  Kilkenny,  visited  this  fine  old  building,  which  yet  stands. 


■:!5^ 


112 


i& 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH    THE 


Gormanstown  and  Castlehaven,  Sir  Phelim  O'Neil,  and 
Patrick  Darcy  were  members.  Tbey  reported  the  fol- 
lowing project  of  law  :  — 

**  *  jn^igna  Charta  and  the  common  and  statute  laws  of 
**  England,  in  all  points  not  contrary  to  the  Roman 
*^  Catholic  religion,  or  inconsistent  with  the  liberty  of 
<<  Ireland,  were  acknowledged  as  the  basis  of  the  new 
"  government 

"  *  They  resolved  that  each  county  should  have  its 
'*  council,  consisting  of  one  or  two  deputies  out  of  each 
"  barony,  and  where  there  was  no  barony,  of  twelve 
**  persons  elected  by  the  county  in  general,  with  powers 
<'  to  adjudicate  on  all  matters  cognizable  by  justices  of 
**  the  peace,  pleas  of  the  crown,  suits  for  debts,  and  per- 
**  sonal  actions,  and  to  restore  possessions  usurped  since 
**  the  war;  to  name  all  the  county  officers,  saving  the 
.  "  high  sherrifF,  who  was  to  be  elected  by  the  supreme 
**  council,  out  of  three  whom  the  council  of  the  county 
**  were  to  recommend.  From  these  there  was  an  appeal 
*^  to  the  provincial  councils,  which  were  to  consist  of 
**  two  deputies  out  of  each  county,  and  were  to  meet 
*^  four  times  a  year,  or  oftener,  if  there  was  occasion,  to 
*^  examine  the  decisions  of  the  county  councils,  to  decide 
*^  all  suits  like  judges  of  assize,  to  establish  recent  pos- 
*'  sessions,  but  not  to  interfere  with  other  suits  about 
"  lands  except  in  cases  of  dower.* 

"  *  From  these  there  lay  a  further  appeal  to  the  supreme 
^ "  council,  of  twenty-four  persons,  who  were  to  be  elected 
"  by  the  general  assembly,  of  which  twelve  were  to  be 
"  constantly  resident  in  Kilkenny,  or  wherever  else  they 
**  should  judge  it  to  be  most  expedient,  with  equal  voices, 
**  but  two  thirds  to  conclude  the  rest ;  never  fewer  than 
**  nine  to  sit  in  council,  and  seven  to  concur  in  the  same 
♦*  opinion :  out  of  these  twenty-four  a  president  was  to 
'*  be  named  by  the  assembly,  and  was  to  be  always  one 
"  of  the  twelve  resident,  and,  in  case  of  death  or  any 
"  other  serious  impediment,  the  other  residents  out  of 
"  twenty-four  were  to  select  a  president' 


■."■  ,• 


*  Carte's  OrmoncL 


^w;-^- 


PROTESTANT    RBFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


113 


in 


*•  It  was  also  enacted,  *  That  the  council  should  be 
"  vested  with  power  over  all  generals,  military  officers, 
"  and  civil  magistrates,  who  were  to  obey  their  orders, 
*^  and  send  an  account  duly  of  their  actions  and  pro- 
"  ceedings ;  to  determine  all  matters  left  undecided  by 
"  the  general  assembly.  Their  acts  to  be  of  force  till 
"  rescinded  by  the  next  assembly ;  to  command  and 
^'  punish  all  commanders  of  forces,  magistrates,  and  all 
"  others  of  what  rank  and  condition  soever;  to  hear  and 
"  judge  all  capital  and  criminal  causes,  (saving  titles  to 
"  lands,)  and  to  do  all  kinds  of  acts  for  promoting  the 
"  common  cause  of  the  confederacy  and  the  good  of  the 
''  kingdom,  and  relating  to  the  support  and  management 
"  of  the  war.* 

"  And  as  the  administrative  authority  was  to  be  vested 
"  in  the  supreme  council,  it  was  decreed  that,  at  the  end 
"  of  every  general  assembly,  the  supreme  council  should 
"  be  confirmed  or  changed,  as  the  general  body  thought 
"fit." 

They  then  proceeded  to  elect  their  supreme  council,  con- 
sisting of  the  three  archbishops,  (Cashelwas  at  the  time 
vacant,)  the  Bishops  of  Down  and  Clonfert,  and  23  lay- 
men, half  Milesians,  half  Normans.  They  adopted  as 
a  seal  a  great  cross  resting  on  a  flaming  heart,  and 
crowned  with  the  wings  of  a  dove,  on  the  left  the  harp, 
on  the  right  the  crown.  The  motto  was,  "Pro  Deo^ 
Rege,  et  Patria,  Hiberni  UnaniiTies."  The  provincial  com- 
manders were  formally  reappointed,  and  each  county 
assessed  for  men  and  money,  according  to  its  means. 
A  mint  was  established,  and  copper  and  silver  coins  were 
struck.  They  issued  letters  of  marque,  and  equipped 
several  light  ships  under  their  own  flag,  which  were 
commanded  by  Oliver  Synnott,  Francis  Oliver,  and 
others.  An  official  press  was  established,  which  worked 
night  and  day  on  pamphlets  and  proclamations. 

The  legislation  of  this  assembly  was  equally  judicious. 
They  enacted  that  all  duties  on  grain  and  corn  coming 
into  Irish  ports  should  be  suspended;  they  abolished 


•  Cox ;  Carte's  Ormond. 

10* 


■:.jS^ 


114 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THB 


duties  on  imported  iron,  arms,  and  ammunition ;  they 
guarantied  ^*the  liberties  and  privileges  of  free  denizens 
to  all  ship  builders  and  masters "  who  would  settle  in 
the  kingdom.  They  decreed  the  restoration  of  all  church 
property  "  as  fully  as  held  by  the  Protestant  clergy  on 
the  Ist  of  October,"  but  reserved  to  the  laity  "  their 
rights  by  the  laws  of  the  land ; "  they,  moreover,  fixed  a 
percentage  to  be  paid  to  the  treasury  by  the  restored 
property  during  the  continuance  of  the  war.  Lastly, 
they  appointed  and  authorized  foreign  agents,  or  ambas- 
sadors, and  so  adjourned  early  in  January,  to  meet  again 
in  May.* 

The  Catholic  courts  received  their  agents  with  cordial- 
ity. Father  Luke  Wadding  procured,  at  Rome,  26,000 
dollars,  2000  muskets,  the  appointment  of  a  nuncio  to  .i 
Ireland,  and  the  I'apal  benediction  for  the  war.  Father  I 
Peter  Talbot  procured,  at  Madrid,  20,000  dollars,  and  at 
Paris,  ^  two  great  guns,  casting  balls  of  24  pour^ds' 
weight."  In  addition  to  these  gifts,,  many  Spanish  and 
French  officers  volunteered,  some  of  whom,  no  doubt, 
had  diplomatic  directions  from  Qlivarez  and  Richelieu. 

After  the  adjournment,  the  supreme  council  proceeded 
oil  a  progress  through  the  south,  accompanied  by  a 
guard  of  500  foot  and  200  horse.  In  Wexford,  Water- 
ford,  Tipperary,  Cork,  and  Limerick,  they  healed  local 
dissensions,  and  enrolled  confederates.  Their  progress 
had  all  the  appearance  and  effect  of  a  royal  visit  In 
the  spring,  Preston  and  Barry  felt  its  good  effects  in  re- 
cruits and  new  munitions.  ■-} 

The  European  governments  had  not  been  insensible 
to  the  state  of  Ireland.  In  the  spring  of  1643,  M.  La 
Monaire  represented  France,  M.  Fuysot  Spain,  M.  Over- 
mere  Holland,  and  Father  Scarampi  represented  Rome, 
at  Kilkenny.     Kilkenny  was  then,  an  European  capital. 

*  Before  separating,  they  promulgated  this  formal  declaration  of  their 
independence :  "  It  is  hereby  declared  that  no  temporal  government  or 
jurisdiction  shall  be  assumed,  kei)t,  or  exercised  in  this  kingdom,  or 
within  any  county  or  province  thereof,  during  these  troubles,  other  than 
is  before  expressed,  except  such  jurisdiction  rr  government  as  is,  or  shall 
be,  approved  by  the  general  assembly,  or  supreme  council  of  the  con- 
federate CathoUcs  of  Ireland."  The  shadow  of  a  '<  Long  Parliament," 
sitting  in  Dublin,  is  particularly  aimed  at  in  thi?  declaration. 


PR0TB8TANT  RBFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


U6 


tal 


■''i. 


.  « 


Every  thing  looked  well  for  the  Catholic  cause.  In 
the  north,  O'Neil  had  talcen  Charlemont,  and,  though 
checlced  at  Clonish,  had  advanced  to  victory  at  Forties- 
ter;  in  the  west,  Willoughby  had  surrendered  Galway 
and  Oranmore  to  Burke;  in  the  south,  Vavasor  had 
surrendered  to  Castlehaven ;  and  in  Leinater,  Preston's 
troops  invested  Dublin,  where  the  forces  with  Ormond 
and  Monk  were  pining  for  lack  of  provisions. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  the  artful  and  unscrupulous 
diplomacy  of  Ormond  rescued  the  cause  of  Protestantism 
from  its  jeopardy.  In  Dublin,  he  placed  the  justices 
Borlase  and  Parsons  under  arrest,  while  he  was  secretly 
in  alliance  with  Munroe,  the  Covenanter  general,  at  Car- 
rickfergus.  Simultaneous  proposals  to  unite  the  royal 
and  Catholic  forces  were  presented  at  Kilkenny.  Thus 
Ormond  kept  two  doors  open,  and  stood  between  them, 
^'speaking,  with  a  double  tongue,  contradictory  lan- 
guages." 

The  Catholics  were  divided  as  to  a  junction  with  the 
royal  forces ;  the  majority  of  the  supreme  council,  how- 
ever, favored  it,  and  nine  commissioners  were  appointed 
to  meet  Ormond.  In  November,  a  year's  truce  was  con- 
cluded at  Sigginstown,  in  Kildare,  which  was  renewed 
in  1644,  for  another  year,  and  terminated  only  in  1645, 
by  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  new  nuncio,  Rinuncini, 
Archbishop  of  Fermo. 

O'Neil,  with  a  firm  minority,  had  opposed  the  peace 
from  the  first  He  and  his  friends  believed  that  Ireland 
could  stand  best  unencumbered  with  any  foreign  royalty. 
When  it  was  asked  if  they  would  consent  to  invite  over 
a  continental  prince,  he  distinctly  declared  himself  op- 
posed to  giving  any  foreign  power  "  an  interest  in  Ire- 
land." After  the  first  truce,  he  was  accused  of  interested 
ulterior  motives,  and  Castlehaven  was  appointed  over  his 
head  to  the  command  of  the  north.  Still  he  did  not  de- 
sert the  army,  but  continued  to  serve  in  a  subordinate 
position,  though  the  troops  he  raised,  according  to  Cas- 
tlehaven, were  "like  men  half  changed."  In  1645,  ho 
was  not  only  restored  to  his  former  rank,  but  the  com- 
mand in  chief  of  Connaught  was  added.     His  forces 


■1. 


116 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


were  then  dignified  with  the  title  of  the  "  Catholic  army," 
and  he  quartered  the  cro»8  and  keys  with  the  red  hand 
of  Ulster  on  his  banner. 

The  royal  cause  derived  from  this  two  years'  truce 
3000  men,  with  2400  pounds  of  powder,  forwarded  under 
Alexander  McDonald,  Marquis  of  Antrim,  (called  ''  Col- 
kitto,"  or  the  left-handed,)  to  the  succor  of  the  Marquis 
of  Montrose ;  <£30,000  in  money,  paid  to  the  king  at 
Oxford ;  the  possession  of  Dublin,  Kilkenny  and  other 
Irish  towns  for  the  king,  and  the  consequent  strength- 
ening of  his  cause.  When,  however,  after  two  years  of 
delusive  diplomacy  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  generous 
confidence  on  the  other,  the  Catholics  resolved  to  termi- 
nate a  truce  by  which  they  lost  their  means  and  forces 
without  receiving  any  return,  Ormond  renewed  his  , 
secret  negotiations  with  the  Puritans;  his  son  and  two  'C^ 
others  of  his  adherents  went  over  to  the  Parliament, 
and  in  November,  1646,  finding  himself  hard  pressed 
again  in  Dublin,  by  O'Neil  and  Preston,  he  surrendered 
that  city  and  Drogheda  to  the  Puritan  fleet,  and  passed 
over  to  Holland,  leaving  his  marchioness,  sons,  and 
estates  under  the  protection  of  his  new  allies. 

General  O'Neil,  with  his  Catlr>iic  army,  met  the  Cov- 
enantors under  Munroe,  at  lienburb.  They  were  ten 
thousand  strong,  of  whom  three  thousand  two  hundred 
and  forty-three  were  killed  upon  the  spot.  All  their 
tents,  stores,  guns,  and  fifteen  hundred  draught  horses  - 
were  captured.  Their  colors  were  forwarded  to  the 
Papal  nuncio,  and  by  him  sent  to  Rome,  where  a  Te 
Deum  was  sung  for  the  happy  issue  of  that  day  — June 
4,  1646.  It  was  from  Benburb  that  O'Neil  advanced 
by  way  of  Mullingar,  (which  he  retook,)  to  ipport 
Preston,  before  Dublin.  ''^    f 

Another  royal  treaty  was  now  proposed  at  Kili' "iii^, 
the  negotiator  being  the  Earl  of  Glamorgan,  son  of  the 
Marquis  of  Worcester.  This  proposal  came  directly 
from  the  k'lg,  and  contained  thirty  articles;  the  chief 
are  the  first  •  ''een  which  follow:  — 

1.  "  ThCit  th  "  professors  of  the  Roman  Catholic  reli- 
"  gion  in  the  ki.igdom  of  Iceland,  or  any  of  them,  be  not 


"^-  fj-i 


t 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN   IRELAND. 


117 


i 


■4 


f»>« 


^' 


**  bound  or  obligeu  to  take  tho  oath  of  supremacy, 
**  expressed  in  the  second  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  com- 
"  monly  called  the  o  ifh  of  supremacy." 

2.  "  That  a  Parliament  may  be  held  on  or  before  the 
"  last  day  of  Nov*  nber  next ;  and  that  these  articles 
*<  agreed  on  may  be  transmitted  into  England,  according 
*'  to  the  u.ual  form,  and  jassed,  provided  that  nothing 
*♦  may  be  bia''ed  to  the  prejudice  of  either  Protestant  or 
*'  Catholic  party,  other  than  such  things  as  upon  this 
'•  treaty  si  Jl  be  concluded." 

3.  "  Th.if;  nil  acts  made  by  both  or  either  house  of 
'  Parliament,  to  the  blemish  or  prejudice  of  his  majesty*s 
"  Roman  Catholic  subjects,  since  the  7th  of  August, 
*'  1641,  shall  be  vacated  by  acts  of  Parliament." 

4.  '*  That  no  action  of  law  shall  be  removed  before 
**  the  said  Parliament,  in  case  it  be  sooner  called  than 
*<  the  last  of  November;  and  that  all  impedii  \ents  which 
*<  may  hinder  the  Roman  Catholics  to  sit  iti  the  next 
"  Parliament  shall  be  removed  before  the  Parliament 
«  sit" 

5.  '*  That  all  debts  do  stand  in  state,  as  they  were  in 
^'  the  beginning  of  these  troubles." 

6.  <^  That  the  plantations  in  Connaught,  Kilkenny, 
"  Clare,  Thomond,  Tipperary,  Limerick,  and  Wicklow 
**  may  be  revoked  by  act  of  Parliament,  and  their  estates 
"  secured  in  the  next  sessions." 

7.  "  That  the  natives  may  erect  one  or  more  inns  of 
<'  court  in  or  near  the  city  of  Dublin,  they  taking  an 
"  oath;  as  also  one  or  more  universities,  to  be  governed 
"  as  his  majesty  shall  appoint ;  as  also  to  have  st  hools 
"  for  education  of  youth  in  the  kingdom." 

8.  "  That  places  of  command,  of  forts,  castles,  garri- 
^^  sons,  towns,  and  other  places  of  importance,  anci  all 
"  places  of  honor,  profit,  and  trust,  shall  be  conferred  with 
"  equal  indifferercy  upon  the  Catholics,  as  his  majesty's 
"•other  subjects,  according  to  their  respective  merits 
"  and  abilities." 

9.  '^  That  £12,000  sterling  be  paid  the  king  yearly 
"  for  tho  court  of  wards." 

lU.  "  That  no  peer  may  be  capable  of  more  proxies 


118 


I     ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    TH*J 


'  %;  A 


"  than  two  ;  and  that  no  lords  vote  in  Parliament. 
"  unless,  in  five  years*,  a  lord  baron  purchase  in  Ireland 
"  £200  per  annum,  a  viscount  £400,  and  an  earl  £600, 
"  or  lose  their  votes  till  they  purchase."  '"' 

11.  "  That  the  independency  of   the    Parliament  of 
"  Ireland  on  the  kingdom  of  England  shall  be  decided 
**  by  declaration  of  both  houses,  agreeable  to  the  laws  of  v 
*'  the  kingdom  of  Ireland." 

V  12.  "  That  the  council  table  shall  contain  itself  within 
"  its  bounds  in  handling  matters  of  btate,  as  patent  of 
"  plantations,  offices,  &c.,  and  not  meddle  witn  matter 
"  betwixt  party  and  party."  « 

13.  "  That  all  acts  concerning  staple  or  native  com- 
"  modities  of   this   kingdom   shall   be   repealed,  except 

"  wooll  and  wooUfels ;  and  that  the  commissioners,  the  ^  ^ 
"  Lord  Mountgarret,-  named  in  the  twenty-sixth  article,    w 
'*  shall  be  authorized,  under  the  great  seal,  to  moderate 
"  and  ascertain  the  rates  of  merchandise  to  be  exported  -^ 
"  and  imported." 

14.  "  That  no  governor  be  longer  resident  than  his 
"  majesty  shall  find  for  the  good  of  his  people,  and  that 
"  they  make  no  purchase  other  than  by  lease,  for  the 
"  provision  of  their  houses." 

15.  "  That  an  act  of  oblivion  may  be  passed,  with-  * 
*'  out  extending  to   any  who  will  not  accept  of  this 

"  peace." 

This  explicit  concession  of   every   Catholic  demand 
would  have  been  quite  satisfactory,  if  the  king  retained 
the  power  to  put  it  into  operation.    But  his  was  already 
a  doubtful  cause.     He  required  ten  thousand  men  from 
Ireland — a   requisition   which,  when    it  was    known,    _^ 
injured   him   still   further  in    England.      The    Scottish    '^ 
loyalists  were  falling  off  from  him,  at  Newcastle,  while 
the  Parliament  were  apparently  negotiating,  but  actu-  ^ 
ally  preparing  to  push  him  to  extremities.     Yet,  withal, 
an  influential  party  at  Kilkenny  —  though  a  minority  this 
time  —  favored   the   new  treaty.      The  bishops  proved 
themselves  the  best  statesmen,  by  their  decided  opposi- 
tion to  it ;  O'Neil,  as  usual,  acted  with  them.     Neither 
party  yielding,  a  division    ensued,   which  was    never 


^ 


m 


'% 


^ 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


119 


0 


w 


^'  *?- 


'sup 


*? 


healed.*  The  anti-peace  party  femoved  their  council 
to  Waterford,  whence  the  nuncio  issued  his  excom- 
munication against  all  foresworn  confederates  who 
should  accept  the  peace.  From  Waterford,  the  bishops 
removed  to  Jamestown,  in  Roscommon,  and  finally  to 
Galway.  Rinuncini  parted  with  tears  from  0*Neil, 
at  Maryborough,  and  returned  to  Rome,  where  he  had 
the  additional  affliction  of  being  coldly  received  by  the 
new  pope. 

O'Neil,  thus  left  almost  alone,  was  not  unequal  to 
the  position.  He  was  somewhat  beyond  middle  age, 
pious,  skilful,  eloquent,  and  brave.  Beloved  by  his  men, 
and  entirely  confided  in  by  the  Council  of  Bishops,  he 
tool?,  from  time  to  time,  such  measures  as  the  new  state 
of  affairs  required.  In  1647  and  1648,  he  occupied 
positions  covering  the  north-west  and  the  valley  of  the 
Shannon,  thus  protecting  the  jouncil  in  its  western 
retreat.  His  successes  won  new  help  from  abroad.  Pope 
Innocent  and  Cardinal  Maxarin  sent  supplies ;  the  new 
Spanish  envoy,  De  la  Torre,  advanced  j£9000,  and  the 
Duke  of  Lorraine  X5000.  In  1649,  we  find  O'Neil  at 
Tandaragee,  with  ten  thousand  foot  and  twenty-one 
troops  of  horse.  That  summer  he  had  a  truce  with 
Monk  and  Coote,  probably  to  give  time  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  land ;  in  October,  it  expired,  and  Cromwell 
having  arrived  at  Dubjjn  the  previous  month,  Owen 
agrees  to  an  alliance  with  Ormond,  some  time  returned 
from  Holland,  and  at  the  head  of  an  army,  in  Water- 
ford. Lieutenant  General  O'Farrell,  with  three  thousand 
men,  was  despatched  to  reenforce  the  marquis  in  conse- 
quence of  this  coalition. 

O'Neil  prepared  to  follow,  and  forming  a  junction 
with  Ormond,  to  give  battle  to  Cromwell.  He  moved 
through  Monaghan  and  Tyrone,  in  great  bodily  pain, 
from  an   issue  of  blood,  probably  caused  by  some  old 


i  -H 


wound.      Carried   in  a  litter,  he 


gave 


his  orders,  and 


n^ 


*  The  fable  of  the  "  Kilkenny  cats,"  who  devoured  each  other,  leav- 
ing but  the  tails  behind,  is  supposed  to  have  originated  with  some  Me- 
nenius  of  thoiie  days. 


♦*?• 


120 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


hastened  his  troops.  •"  A  pair  of  russet  leather  boots," 
supposed  to  be  poisoned,*  were  given  him  on  the  way, 
and  are  traditionally  believed  to  be  the  occasion  of  his 
death.  Standing  as  a  sentinel  on  the  pleasant  borders 
of  Meath  and  Cavan,  Lough  Oughter  Castle  received 
the  dying  soldier.  On  the  6th  of  November,  1649,  he 
breathed  his  last,  leaving  the  faithful  "  Catholic  army  " 

"  Like  sheep  without  a  shepherd  when  the  snow  shuts  out  the  sky." 

Very  few  names  in  any  history  are  more  worthy  of 
our  honorable  and  pious  remenabrance.f  *  ^ 

The  last  effort  made  to  maintain  the  Catholic  contest 
in  this  generation  was  by  Bishop  French,  and  the  three 
cities,  Clonmel,  Limerick,  and  Galway.  Of  these  we 
will  have  to  speak  farther  on. 

The  nuncio,  Rinuncini,  somewhat  censured  at  Rome, 
retired  to  his  palace  at  Fermo,  and  adorned  its  walls 
with  cartoons  of  the  confederate  war.  Luke  Wadding 
did  not  live  to  hear  the  sorrowful  end  of  his  efforts.* 
After  declining  the  well-deserved  dignity  of  cardinal,  he 
died  a  Friar  Minor,  in  1657,  and  was  buried  near  Hugh 
'^O'Neil,  on  St.  Peter's  Mount. 

The  Protestant  side  of  this  narrative  is  now  in  turn. 

We  have  seen  the  Presbyterians  in  Ireland  in  1610, 
and  the  Puritans  in  1640.  The  solemn  league  and 
covenant  fused  and  held  them  together,  in  all  Irish 
enterprises,  whatever  differences  might  arise  between 
them  in  England  or  Scotland. 

In  the  beginning  they  had  the  king  on  their  side ;  for 
nearly  twenty  years,  the  English  Parliament  was  their 
willing  instrument.  This  gave  them  great  power,  and 
their  many  years'  possession  of  the  island  gave  them 
„  every  earthly  opportunity  to  implant  their  species  of 
reformation  all  over  the  defeated  country.  To  aid 
them,  the  early  Irish    Protestants,    Calvinists   in   creed. 


^T 


•*  * 


#. 


P 


•  Carte's  Life  of  Ormond,  vol.  ii,  p.  83. 

t  Napoleon,  whose  chief  study  was  military  history,  thought  that, 
had  O'Neil  lived,  he  would  have  overmatched  Cromwell.  Vide  Voice 
from  St.  Helena. 


x;^ 


r--. 


^. 


*im 


»    mi.- 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


t^ 


were  Episcopalians  only  in  form.     Usher's  articles  were 
condemned    by  King    James,   and  finally  rejected    by 
"  the  Irish  Church,"  as  savoring  too  strongly  of  Calvin 
There  was   always   a  Presbyterian   leaven   in   Dublin, 
?       though  it  was  not  till  the  Scotch  plantation  of  the  north 
that  there  came  to  be  a  sect  of  them,  nor  till  the  arrival 
of  General  Munroe  and  his  Covenanters,  in  1642,  that 
^      this  sect  was  formidable  enough  to  assume  the  offensive. 
Munroe's  defeat  diminished  their   numbers  and  confi- 
dence, which   only  revived  with   the    landing  of   their 
English  brethren  under  Comwell. . 
«.    %     The  Puritanism  exhibited  in  Ireland  is  English,  rather 
than  Scotch,  and  military  rather  than  immigrant.     The 
"■^      Scottish  Puritan   entered   the  field  with  the  spade,  his 
English  brother  entered  it  with  the  firelock ;   the  Scot 
^       would   fight  for    his   fields  and   faith,  the    Saxon   for 
'         Oliver   and  the   spoils  of  Amalek.     The   one   was  in 
'  search  of  a  foreign    settlement  having  little  to  entice 

*  him  back  to  his  own  country  ;  the  Saxon  was  in 
search  of  plunder  with  which  he  intended  to  enrich  and 
enlarge  his  native  inheritance. 

The  history  of  both  sections  of  the  sect  illustrates  a 
different  mind. 

Ttie  first  Puritan  chiefs  in  Ireland  were  the  defeated 

*  Munroe,  Sir  Charles  Coote,  (second  of  the  name,) 
Sir  Henry  Tichbourne,  and  Colonel  Jones,  to  whom 
Ormond    had  surrendered   Dublin.      All   but   the  first- 

^'  named  officer  formed,  in  August,  1647,  a  junction  in 
\  Meath,  for  the   purpose  of  driving  the   Leinster  con- 
*    federate  army  from  the  neighborhood  of  their  garrisons 
of   Drogheda  and  Dublin.     At  Dungan   Hill,  the  two 
armies   met,  and  the    Puritans  won  a  bloody  victory. 
Preston  and  Colkitto  McDonnell,  (the  ally  of  Montrose,) 
were   defeated,   and   five   thousand   four   hundred   and 
^  f  seventy  confederates  left  dead  upon  the  field.     Jones, 
after  his  victory,  returned  to   Dublin,  where  he  found 
large  supplies  from  the  Long  Parliament,  and  £1000  to 
be  distributed  among  his  men,  as  a  reward  for  their 
valorous  conduct. 
Dublin,  at  this  time,  was  the  theatre  of  actiVe  Purita%u^ 
11 


xdM 


*--'■ 


122 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


( 


"%■         teaching.      Stephen    Jerome    and    Hugh   Peters,  two 
**  preachers  of  the  word,"  vied  with  each  other  in  the 
violence  of  their  invectives  against  the  Catholics.    Their 
favorite  precedents  were  taken  from  the  wars  of  Joshua;,^ 
awful  were  their  imprecations  on  those  who  did  "  th6 
work  of  the  Lord  negligently."     These  apostles  of  ex- 
termination accompanied  the  army,  and  sailed  in  the 
fleet  to  points  of  attack,  discoursing  of  Phineas,  and 
Agag,  and  Gideon  ;  their  texts  from  the  New  Testament 
being   confined   to    Antichrist,   Armageddon,    and  the 
seventh  seal.      From   the   pulpit  of  the  castle   chapel^* 
Jerome   cursed,  in   tlie   name  of   the  Lord,  the  timers 
server  who  gave  quarter  to  any  son  of  Belial ;   in  the 
^  fleet  at  Galway  and  Kinsale,  Peters  exhorted  the  fanat- 

ical Lord  Forbes  to  follow  the  example  of  the  captors 
^    of  Jericho  and  Hal,  by  "  killing  all  that  were  there,| 
young  men  and  old,  children  and  maidens."  '* 

The  exhofters  of  this  school  were  quite  successful* 
in  keeping  alive  the  merciless  dispositions  of  the  Par-J 
liamentarians.  Abubeker  and  Omar  did  not  more 
thoroughly  inspire  cruelty  into  their  followers  than  these 
Puritan  chaplains  into  their  attendants.  During  the 
years  1647  and  1648,  they  beat  the  iron  §ouls  of  men, 
already  fanatical  enough,  to  the  white  heat,  which, 
under  Cromwell's  eye,*  wrought  such  devastations  the 
year  following.  ^ 

The  king  executed,   his    surviving  friends    in   exile, 
Scotland  subsidized  for  the  time,  there  remained  but 
one  work  for  Oliver  Cromwell  to  do,  to  entitle  him  to  . 
the  sovereignty  he  aimed  at;  and  this  work  was,  thm 
utter  subjection  of  the  Irish  Catholics.     Accordingly,  he 
procured  from  the  Parliament  the  title  of  Lord  General 
and  Lord  Governor  of  Ireland,  and  at  the  head  of  tho 
veterans  of  Naseby  and  Marston  Moor,  reached  Dublin, 
August  15,  1649.      Standing    up    bareheaded    in    his  ^ 
carriage,  he  promised  the  citizens,  as  he  entered,  an  early 
triumph  over  their  enemies.     Oliver  had  sworn  to  make 
short  work  of  it :  he  was  now  entered  on  his  fiftieth  year. 
The  long  self-denial  and  incessant  plots  of  a  quarter  of  a 
century  had  «^t  last  placed  him  within  two  steps  of  abso- 


m: 


"m- 


■'.  '. 


'I 


m 


,»'■ 


m 


« 


■<;*■ 


^ 


iiMlii'iri  wmkM^utigmatmK^M 


MHriMHiMiMJIUi- 


0  n 

PROTE«»TANT   KI2FQBMATI0N    IN    IRELAND. 


123 


W-^. 


^' 


m 

1 

e 

B 

■' 

3 
> 

> 

> 
t 

& 


I    ^ 


4t 


lute  power.  One  of  these  steps  was  the  conquest  of 
Ireland,  the  other  the  dissolution  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment, which  had  lately  constituted  itself  an  oligarchy. 
To  take  the  last  step  in  time,  Ireland  should  be  over- 
powered quickly.  A  murderous  despatch  in  the  Irish 
business,  he  knew,  would  strike  terror  into  the  English 
^royalists,  and  give  a  revengeful  joy  to  men  of  the  Cov- 
enant. For  a  century  Ireland's  constancy  had  been 
England's  abhorrence,  while  Ireland's  valor  at  home  and 
credit  abroad,  had  of  late  alarmedP  England's  passion 
for  supremacy. 

As  Catholics,  as  royalists,  as  a  rival  race,  it  was  safe  to 
slaughter  them.  Besides,  more  than  two  years'  absence 
from  England  might  permit  other  influences  to  take  root 
too  deeply.  It  was,  consequently,  no  heat  of  the  hour^^. 
no  retaliation  for  Irish  excesses,  but  a  deliberately  chosen 
policy  in  Cromwell,  to  doom  all  who  opposed  his  arms 
or  his  theology  in  Ireland  to  instantaneous  death.  In 
his  own  closet,  or  in  the  cabin  of  his  ship,  amid  the 
waves  of  the  Channel,  this  Gothic  resolution  was  formed, 
not  upon  the  field,  nor  under  the  excitement  of  actual 
battle. 

Cromwell  brought  from  England  eight  thousand  foot, 
four  thousand  horse,  an  unusually  large  train  of  artil- 
lery, and  twenty  thousand  pounds  in  money.  The 
Puritan  army  previously  there  was  more  than  equal  in 
numbers  to  the  reenforcement.  Ireton,  Jones,  Ludlow, 
Coote,  Waller,  and  other  able  officers  served  under 
him,  and  the  majority  of  the  Long  Parliament  were  his 
obedient  servants.  His  plan  of  campaign  was  to 
strike  rapidly  with  his  whole  force  on  the  walled 
towns,  still  possessed. by  the  Catholics.  He  began  with 
Drogheda,  the  northern  town,  most  formidable  to  his 
party. 

Twice  repulsed  by  the  garrison  under  Colonels  Wall 
and  Byrne,  a  breach  was  at  last  effect»d,  quarter 
oft'ered,  and  the  town  taken.  In  his  letter  to  the 
speaker  of  the  Parliament,  Oliver  writes,  "  We  refused 
them  quarter,  having  the  day  before  summoned  the 
town.     I   do   not   think    thirty  of  the   whole   escaped. 


flir 


'1^ 


# 


%    A 


^r-' 


* 


.#' 


mmmi'— 


■■IPV>«> 


m 


124 


ATTEMPTS   TO   l^TABLISH   THE 


1  , 


%        ^ 


' 


-* 


'■K     "W 


and  those  that  did  are  in  safe  custody;  for  the  Barba- 
does."  •  . 

Marching  south,  Wexford  was  next  invested  and 
cannonaded.  By  the  treachery  of  a  Captain  Stafford, 
one  of  the  flankers  of  the  town  wall  was  yielded  at 
night  to  the  enemy.  The  brave  governor,  Colonel 
David  Synnott,  proposed  terms,  and  commissioners  •# 
were  actually  exchanged,  when  Cromwell  entered  by 
Stafford's  connivance,  and  slew  two  thousand  of  the 
soldiery  and  people.*  The  women  of  the  town,  flying ' 
to  the  market  cross,  huddled  together  in  hope  of 
mercy;  but,  like  the  captors  of  Hai,  the  leader  of  the 
Puritans  spared  neither  "  children  nor  maidens."  Two 
barges  full  of  fugitives,  in  attempting  to  put  to  sea, 
sunk  in  the  harbor,  and  three  hundred  of  those  in 
them  were  drowned.  *  ■ 

"  This  town,"  writes  Cromwell  to  Speaker  Lenthall, 
is  now  so  in  your  power,  that  of  the  former  inhabit- 
ants   I   believe    scarce   one    in    twenty   can   challenge 
any  property  in  their  own  houses.     Most  of  them  arc 
run   away,  and    many  of  them  killed  in    the  service."  •, 
Gallant  Wexford  I 

Waterford  made  a  gallant  defence,  and  during  Crom- 
well's time  did  not  surrender.   Dungannon  Fort,  Passage, 
and  Ross  were,  however,  taken,  and  the  Puritans  pro-- 
ceeded  into  Munster. 

Clonmel,    Limerick,   and    Galway,    warned    by   the  ^ 
fugitives    from     Leinster  ^  what    they    had    to    expect, 
made  memorable    resistance.      These  three  cities  held 
out  for  nearly  two  years  against  the  entire  force  which 
conquered  the    Cavaliers   in    a  campaign,  and  overran  > 
^Scotland  \\  six  months.  * 

In   the   winter  of  1649,   with   an   augmented   force,  ^ 
Oliver   invested    Clonmel,   defended   by  Hugh    O'Neil, 
nephew  of  Owen,  and  a  garrison  of  one  thousand  two 


%. 


*  In  the  same  letter  he  sta'es  the  Irish  garrison  at  three  thousand^ 
80  that  two  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventy  must  have  been  put 
todeathatDrogheda.  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches,  edited  by 
Carlyle.    London,  1846. 


"^  ,#■  •>-'^' 

■*,"'» 

;♦  4#  "''  -  ;-  «^„ 

L_^ 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


125 


d 

it 
el 

tie 

ng 
of 

;he 
ea, 

in 

\\  I- 

lall, 
bit- 
nge 
are 
ee." 

orn- 

pro- 

the 

)ect, 

eld 

lich 

rran 

orce, 
Neil, 
two 


% 


isand,. 
n  put 
d  by 


hundred  men.  Neither  the  place  nor  its  works  was  of 
much  strength.  Yet  every  assault  on  it  failed.  In 
April,  1650,  the  garrison  began  to  starve  for  food. 
I  No  practical  attempt  was  made  by  Lord  Ormond,  now 
the  royalist  general-in-chief,  for  their  relief,  and  O'Neil, 
after  a  six  months  siege,  was  obliged  to  retreat.  Even 
from  the  fierce  and  bitter  Puritans,  the  defence  of 
iil  Cionmel,  extorted  admiration.  They  declared,  "that 
they  found  in  Cionmel  the  stoutest  enemy  this  army 

f  had   ever  encountered  in  Ireland  \  and  that  there  was 

never  seen  so  hot  a  storm  of  so  lang  conlinuancef  and 
so  gallantly  defended  either  in  England  or  Ireland!^  * 

O'Neil  retreated  skilfully,  bringing  all  his  men  with 
him,  and  safely  conducting  them  to  Limerick,  where  the 
municipality  at  once  chose  him  governor  of  that  old  city, 
so  memorable  in  this  and  another  similar  war.  In  July, 
Sir  Hardress  Waller,  at  the  head  of  a  Puritan  division, 

^  after  attempting  it  in  vain,  raised  the  siege.     Early  in 

1651,  Ireton,  Cromwell's  lieutenant  general,  (Oliver  was 
in  London  dissolving  the  Long  Parliament,)  renewed  the 
siege.  For  nine  months  he  pi  ^ssed  the  place  with  can- 
non, with  famine,  and  witL  spectacles  of  horror.  Every 
prisoner  who  fell  into  his  hands  v/as  publicly  put  to 
death,  in  sight  of  the  city.  Sedition  also  was  fomented, 
and  a  party  of  the  magistrates  indiiced  to  surrender. 
O'Neil  resisted  this  proposal  with  all  his  might,  and 
found  in  Terence  Albert  O'Brien,  Bishop  of  Emly,  and 
Edmund  O'Dwyer,  Bishop  of  Limerick,  heroic  coadjutors. 
In  vain  the  prelate  and  the  soldier  exhorted,  argued, 
and  denounced  the  surrender ;  a  majority  of  the  muni- 
cipal council  carried  it.  The  terms,  however,  were 
disputed  by  Ireton.  The  siege  went  on,  and  sedition 
grew  warmer  and  more  virulent.  A  Captain  French,  in 
the  interest  of  the  submissionists,  yielded  St.  John's 
gate  to  Ireton,  and  then  the  brave  governor  and  the 
bishops,  to  save,  as  they  hoped,  the  lives  of  the  people, 
agreed  to  terms,  which  exempted  themselves,  and  fifteen 
of  their  friends,  from  the  list  of  the  pardoned.     When 


* 


w 


11 


♦  Whitelock's  History,  p.  411. 


'^ 


k 

126 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


the  town  was  once  in  the  hands  of  the  Puritans,  O'Neil 
was  tried,  and  by  one  vote  only  his  life  was  saved. 
General  Purcel,  Sir  Gteoffrey  Galway,  Bishop  O'Brien, 
two  friars,  and  two  of  the  aldermen,  on  the  Eve  of  All 
Saints,  were  hanged  and  bdieaded.*  Bishop  O'Dwyer 
escaped  in  the  disguise  of  a  trooper  to  Brussels,  and, 
like  his  brave  friend  O'Neil,  who  spent  a  long  interval 
in  London  Tower,  he  ended  his  days  in  exile. 

Li  August,  1651,  the  Puritans  appeared  before  that 
city  called  —  Galloway,  rehellium  et  Gallorum  penulti' 
mum  refugium  —  "Galway,  the  refuge  of  rebels  and 
Frenchmen."  f  General  Preston  commanded  there,  and 
the  remnant  of  the  once  powerful  confederate  council, 
presided  over  by  Nicholas  French,  still  deliberated 
within  its  walls.  Altered,  indeed,  was  the  condition  of 
tltjit  body,  but  not  unworthy  of  its  heroic  past  was 
the  end.  Driven  from  Kilkenny  to  Waterford,  thence 
to  Clonmel,  thence  to  Limerick,  to  Loughrea,  and  to 
Jamestown,  they  finally  removed  to  Galway,  their  "  city 
of  refuge."  Diminished  in  numbers,  but  not  in  spirit, 
the  empty  chairs  of  their  martyred  colleagues  elevated 
rather  than  appalled  their  courage.  Bishop  French  was 
the  soul  and  bond  of  these  last  mournful  sessions.  He 
endeavored  to  get  the  Marquis  of  Clanrickarde,  Charles's 
only  recognized  representative,  after  Ormond's  emigra- 
tion, to  take  the  captaincy  of  the  war.  Clanrickarde 
temporized  and  equivocated.  It  was  then  proposed 
to- make  peace  with  Cromwell.  The  bishop  stoutly 
opposed  the  suggestion,  and  advocated  the  revival  of 
the  old  oath  of  confederation,  suffered  to  lapse  at  the 
peace  of  1648,  and  the  open  invitation  of  foreign  aid, 
"  without  any  regard  to  King  Charles's  authority."  % 
Against  every  opposition  he  carried  this  motion,  and  he 
himself,  with  Rochfort,  Browne,  and  Plunkett,  leading 


*  At  his  execution,  Bishop  O'Brien  solemnly  summoned  Ireton  to 
follow  him  to  the  judgment  seat  of  God.    In  nine  da^s  after,  that  mei 
Ciless  general  died  of  the  plague. 

t  Inscription  of  a  medtd  struck  by  William  III. 

X  Clarendon's  Civil  Wars,  p.  186. 

'•'-  *  -    4  • 

'  'S:  ,,  ,     j^   . 


PROTESTANT   REI^ORMATION   IN   IRELAND. 


127 


commoners,  were  sent  out  instructed  by  i  council,  ^  to 
treat  and  agree  with  any  Catholic  prince,  state,  republic, 
or  person,  as  they  mignt  deem  expedient  for  the  pres" 
ervation  of  the  Catholic  religion  and  nation,"  th« 
council  promising  "  to  ratify  the  same."  These  en- 
voys—  this  forlorn  diplomatic  hope  —  landed  at  Am- 
sterdam and  proceeded  to  Brussels.  The  Duke  of 
Lorrain,  a  descendant  of  Godfrey,  the  crusader,  enter- 
tained their  propositions,  and  sent  De  Henin,  canon  of 
St  Catharine's,  with  five  thousand  pounds,  and  two 
small  ships  laden  with  military  stores,  to  the  assembly 
at  Galway.  De  Renin's  instructions  were  to  make 
a  treaty  securing  the  towns  yet  possessed  by  the 
Catholics,  with  the  title  of  "  lord  protector,"  to  hii 
master.  Clanrickarde  refusing  to  even  entertain  their 
terms,  time  and  the  alliance  were  lost  forever. 

During  this  negotiation,  the  siege  of  Galway  went 
on.  In  October,  1651,  Ireton  prepared  to  march  on  it, 
but  before  he  could  leave  Limerick  he  died.  Ludlow, 
his  successor,  allowed  Coote  to  carry  on  the  siege.  la 
the  winter  it  slacked,  but  in  the  spring  it  was  renewed. 
On  the  12th  of  April,  1652,  Galway,  having  made 
tolerable  terms,  opened  her  marble  gates  to  the  con- 
querors. Preston,  the  general,  and  the  other  more 
active  confederates  immediately  sailed  for  France.* 


;  *  In  the  Life  of  the  Biahop  of  Killala,  (Frands  Kirwmn,)  who  w«s  i« 
Galway  during  the  siege,  by  3ishop  Lynch,  also  of  Galway,  this  intex>> 
esting  passage  respecting  the  event  occurs  :  — 

**  While  the  Bishop  of  Killala  was  intent  on  these  pious  undertakings, 
the  hostile  army  marched  into  Connaught,  laying  the  province  waste 
with  fire  and  sword,  and  oh  the  8th  of  July,  1661,  laid  that  siege  to 
Galway  which  continued  to  the  ninth  month.  Meantime,  the  Inshop 
labored  with  all  his  energies  to  drive  the  besiegers  from  before  the  city 
—  and  this  at  a  moment  when  the  Catholic  troops,  either  owing  to  their 
paucity  or  non-payment  of  their  arrears,  were  unwilling  to  nareh.  He 
caused  a  priest  to  precede  him,  carrying  a  cross,  and  in  this  fashion 
passed  through  his  entire  diocese,  beseeching  the  people  not  to  hesitate 
to  do  battle  for  their  king,  altars,  and  country,  and  contribute  money 
for  the  supply  of  the  soldiery ;  for  he  hoped,  by  means  of  additional 
subsidies,  the  Catholics  wo\ild  raise  the  siege  of  Galway,  and  save  them- 
selves from  impending  ruin. 

<«  You  might  justly  style  him  another  Bocaard,  inspiriting  maa«  bgr 


^•m.. 


^■■ 


-m 


]l 


'fUT 


# 


128 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


Nicholas  French,  the  last  heroic  name  of  this  ten 
years'  crusade,  died  where  he  was  educated,  at  Louvain 
College,  in  1678,  equally  proscribed  by  Cromwell  and 
by  Charles.  During  his  exile  he  was  coadjutor  in  turn 
to  the  Archbishops  of  St.  Jago,  in  Spain,  of  Ghent,  and 
of  Paris.  The  cardinal's  hat  is  sculptured  on  his 
tomb,  in  the  ch«pel  of  St.  Anthony;  but  whether  that 
dignity  was  ever  conferred  on  him  is,  to  us,  not  known. 
His  writings   are  the  best  contemporary  record  of  the 


his  eloquence,  to  rally  in  masses  for  the  prosecution  of  the  holy  war, 
and  sustain  it  with  augmented  contributions ;  or  another  St.  Lorchan, 
gathering  forces  by  money  and  entreaty,  to  nnatch  his  Dublin  from  the 
enemy's  hands.  Yet,  though  the  efforts  of  those  three  men  proved 
ixnavailing,  to  the  end  that,  by  long  endurance  of  calamities,  cr.  'nes 
might  be  expiated,  and  deserts  increased,  nevertheless  they  are  Ic  he 
regarded  as  divinely  inspired ;  for  God  sometimes  inflames  men's  mmds 
for  war,  which  does  not  invariably  bring  about  the  result  desiderated. 

"When  it  came  to  be  known  in  Europe  that  the  Christians  were 
overwhelmed  in  Palestine,  then  did  the  rabble  whet  their  tongues 
against  St.  Bernard,  and  cast  upon  him  the  blame  of  all  the  slaughter  ; 
for  he,  by  his  preaching,,  caused  an  infinite  multitude  of  men  to  enroll 
themselves  among  the  crusaders.  Whilst  Bernard  was  brooking  all  this 
ignominy,  a  certain  parent  earnestly  entreated  him  to  obt-^in,  by  his 
prayers  from  God,  the  restoration  of  signt  for  his  scr,  «/hu  had  been 
stricken  blind.  At  first,  the  saint  positively  denied  that  lie  had  any  such 
power ;  but,  urged  by  the  incessant  expostulations  of  the  bystander  >, 
he  flung  himself  upon  his  knees,  and  implored  God  '  that  if  the  woi  1 
of  his  preaching  had  come  from  Him,  or  if  his  Holy  Spirit  was  with 
him,  he  would  deign  to  evidence  it  by  restoring  ^iglon  to  the  blind  one ; ' 
thereon  the  boy  saw  all  objects  before  him  clearly,  and  the  calumniators, 
vcz/erted  into  admirers  by  this  miracle,  renouuv^ed  their  objurgations,  and 
spoke  aloud  in  St.  Bernard's  praise. 

'*  At  length  on  the  12th  of  April,  1652,  Galway  yielded  to  the  besieg- 
ers on  certain  conditions,  which  were  far  from  being  fulfilled ;  •  and  a  few 
months  after,  the  whole  province  of  Connaught  passed  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy,  who,  now  being  the  dominant  party,  bestowed  the  episcopal 
residence  of  Killala  on  Walter  Scsevola  de  Burgo,  a  noble  Catholic, 
ejected  from  his  castle  in  the  month  of  July.  By  this  transfer,  the  suc- 
cessful party  fancied  they  made  ample  reparation  to  the  foresaid  noble- 
man for  the  losses  he  had  sustained.  This  Sceevola  de  Burgo  not  only 
gave  permission  to  our  bishop  to  conceal  himself  in  his  house,  but 
rejoiced  exceedingly  at  the  opportunity.  The  prelate,  therefore,  hid 
himself  within  the  limits  of  a  cooped-up  sleeping  room,  which  contained 
two  beds,  for  himself  and  chaplain.  This  apartment  was  feebly  lighted 
by  a  window,  and  was  large  enough  to  hold  a  chest.  The  room  was 
infested  by  mice,  which  kept  continually  running  over  the  heads  of  the 
sleepers,  and  frequently  made  away  with  their  candle."  '" 


^ 


A\. 


^^w 


PROTSSTANT    BBl^ORltfATION   m   IRELAND. 


i 


Catholic  confederation  of  1641-165L*     His  life  is  one 
of  the  ntost  insxpiring  in  at!  the  annals  of  his  country. 

The  Puritan  legislation  was  as  merciless  as  the  Puritan 
army.  It  extends  in  time  from  the  dispersion  of  the  last 
Catholic  council,  in '1651,  till  the  restoration  of  King 
Charles,  nine  years  later.  After  "  the  peace,"  the  Puri- 
tan officers  met,  in  their  usual  fashion,  to  consider  how 
the  soldiers  of  the  Parliament,  and  the  adventurers  of 
money  to  carry  on  the  war,  were  to  be  indemnil&fNl, 
"Loid  Broghill  proposed,"  at  this  council,  "thal'lk^ 
whole  kingdom  mi^t  be  surveyed,  and  the  number  of 
acres  taken,  with  the  quality  of  them ;  and  then  all  the 
soldiers  to  bring  in  their  arrears,  and  so  to  sive  every 
man,  by  lot,  as  many  acres  of  ground  as  might  answer 
the  value  of  his  arrears.  This  was  agreed  on;  and  nK 
Ireland  being  surveyed,  and  the  value  of  acres  given  iii, 
the  highest  was  valued  at  only  fowr  shilliMffs  th^  acre^  aiid 
some  only  at  a  p^rmy.  Accordingly  they  took  the  names 
of  all  that  were  in  arrear,  who  drew  lots  in  which  ptot  of 
the  kingdom  their  portion  should  be ;  and  in  this  manner 
the  whole  kingdom  was  divided  among  the  conquerors 
and  adventurers  of  money."  f  Finding  this  scheme  im- 
practicable, an  alternative  was  opened  to  the  Catholic 
population.  A  large  part  of  the  province  of  Con  naught 
and  county  of  Clare  had  become  depopulated  during  the 
war,  and  to  Connaught,  or  Barbadoes,  was  the  alterna- 
tive offered  to  the  vanquished.  Twenty  thousand  were 
transported  beyond  seas  to  the  West  India  colonies  and 
the  tobacco  plantations;  ** thousands,  principally  fe- 
males, to  tW  colonies  in  America."  Hundreds  of  thou* 
sands  more  were  crowded  over  the  Shaimon.  A  tribunal 
"to  ascertain  and  settle  claims  to  lands  and  houses  fii 
Ireland,"  in  the  years  1653,  6,  and  7,  was  daily  employed 
in  parcelling  out  the  island,  while  the  most  horrid  re-, 
strictions  were  imposed  on  the  remnant  of  the  dispos- 
sessed natives.  If  a  Catholic  moved  out  of  his  district 
without  a  liceaee,  he  was  to  be  shot;  to  keep  a  musket, 


•  Dublin,  reprinted  by  James  Dufiy,  1847,  (t#d  '»iiim»Wi>' 


'^^ 


130 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


\ 


,•♦.  .--•*' 


sword,  or  any  other  weapon,  was  punishable  with  death  , 
no  Catholic  could  reside  in  certain  chief  towns,  n^r  within 
three  miles  of  their  walls ;  to  receive  or  harbor  a  priest 
was  present  death."*     Most  rigorously  was  this  barba- 
rous code  executed,  in  every  detail.     The  population  sunk 
below  what  it  had  been  even  after  the  Danish  wars,  and 
the  spirit  of  the  nation  decayed  quicker  than  the  num-  ' 
bers.     The  ruin  of  the  Catholic  gentry  was  absolute,  and 
by  all  human  calculations  the  Catholic  religion  was  at 
the  very  point  of  expiration.     Upon  the  dewy  pastures 
of  Erin  I'uritan  cattle  fatten,  while  in  the  swamps  of 
Barbadoes  the  Irish  cry  goes  up  to  Heaven.     But  all  do 
not  live  to  reach  Barbadoes.     Thousands  perished  at  sea. 
Emir  McMahon,  Bishop   of  Clogher,   was  beheaded 
and  embowelled  at  Enniskillen ;  Arthur  Maginnis,  Bishop 
of  Down,  died  at  sea,  ilying  into  exile ;  the  Archbishop 
of  Cashel,  and  the  Bishop  of  Leighlin,  were  fugitives  in 
Spain ;  the  Bishops  of  Limerick,  Rapho,e,  and  Ferns,  in 
the  Netherlands ;  the  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  the  Bishops 
of  Cork,  Cloyne,  Ross,  Waterford,  Killalo,  and  Kilfenora, 
in  different  parts  of  France.     The  Bishop  of  Kilmacduah 
wa»  concealed  among  his  friends  in  England.     Of  the 
twenty-six   Irish   prelates,  only  three  were   suffered  in 
Ireland,  the  Primate  O'Reilly,  McGeoghegan,  Bishop  of 
Meath,  and  the  bedrid  Bishop  of  Kilmore.     Of  the  bish- 
ops, who,  in  the  victorious  days  of  the  confederation, 
filled  their  sees,  administering  orders  and  governing  the 
churches,  twelve  died  in  exile,  and  four  suffered  martyr- 
dom.    The  sufferings  of  those  who  lay  in  concealment 
year  after  year  were  almost  beyond  the  endurance  of 
fortitude  even  such  as  theirs.     The  adventures  of  one  — 
the  Bishop  of  Killalo — are  illustrative  of  those  of  all  his 
contemporaries.    His  biographer  says : 
I     "  He   then  proceeded,  by  short  marches,   to  Gal  way, 
"  and  finally  entered  the  city  about  eventide,  in  disguise. 
"  Here  he  remained  safe  for  a  long  time,  protected  by  his 
**  friends ;  but  a  rumor  was  soon  spread  that  he  was  con- 


*  Clarendon's  Life,  voL  ii.  p.  116.    Laws  of  the  Protectorate,  A.  D. 
1656  and  6.    Mr.  Carlyle,  -witli  his  usiial  fanaticism,  attempts  to  jvuitify 
WhoiB*dB  plmitor»-^I4^  and  Ultm'»  qf  WtintukU,  yoi,L 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


181 


♦*  cealed  in  the  city ;  whereon  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison 
*^  expended  and  squandered  much  time  searching  for 
"  him.  They  had  been  certified  by  informers  of  the 
"  houses  which  the  bishop  was  wont  to  frequent,  and  then 
^^  s(  arched  their  inmost  recesses ;  but  as  the  search  was 
*'  instituted,  generally  speaking,  about  three  days  after 
*^  the  bishop  had  retired  thence,  they  did  liot  arrest  him. 
"  So  keen,  however,  was  their  pursuit  of  him,  that  he  was 
*^  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the  topmost  stories  of  the 
'<  houses,  aneath  the  tiles,  and  this,  too,  at  midwinter 
"  without  a  spark  of  fire.  Sometimes  he  was  forced  to 
^<  go  out  on  the  roof,  and,  whilst  his  pursuers  were  gaining 
"  on  him,  to  descend  into  a  neighboring  bouse  by  the 
"  dormant  window.  For,  as  most  of  the  houses  in  Gal- 
"  way  are  connected,  a  person  can  safely  walk  on  the 
*'  roofs,  and  thus  pass  from  one  house  to  another ;  and, 
"  as  the  interior  walls  support  the  roof,  parapets  rise  on 
*'  the  outside,  under  cover  of  which  it  is  easy  to  find 
''  shelter. 

"  At  length,  after  the  bishop  had  eluded  the  various 
"  snares  set  for  him,  he  was  joyously  received  by  a  cer- 
"  tain  friend  who  was  not  very  rich.  Little  did  this  man 
"  care  for  the  loss  of  his  property,  which  was  inconsidera* 
"  ble,  but  greatly  was  he  concerned  for  the  safety  of  his 
*'  prelate.  Here,  in  midwinter,  on  the  floor,  right  under 
"  the  roof,  without  a  fire,  was  he  obliged  to  lurk  as  long 
*'  as  his  health  permitted  him,  nor  did  he  diescend  to  the 
*'  lower  chamber  till  nighttime,  when  he  required  sleep. 
"  Owing  to  this  irksome,  sedentary  habit  and  unhealthy 
"  position,  together  with  all  his  former  sufferings,  he  was 
"  seized  with  a  most  grievous  malady,  and  compelled  to 
"  betake  him  to  his  bed,  nor  could  he  much  longer  escape 
"  the  soldiers,  who  licentiously  visited  every  house;  where- 
"  fore,  to  protect  him  from  their  ruffian  assaults,  he  was 
"  advised  by  some  friends  to  surrender  himself  to  the 
"  governor,  who,  seeing  that  the  virulence  of  his  d  ease 
**  was  killing  him,  forbade  the  soldiers  to  give  hii  any 
"  trouble,  as  soon  as  some  of  the  richer  citizens  had  en- 
**  tered  into  security  for  his  appearance  in  the  governor^t 
'-«  court,  provided  he  survived." 


.!^*^^- 


Tir: 


132 


ATTEMPTS  TO   fisTASLlSH   Tttfi     m 


t-  '^\. 


At  home  the  priesthood  fared  full  worse.  In  1652,  the 
Puritan  commissioner  proclaimed  the  27th  of  Elizabeth 
to  be  "the  law  of  the  commonwealth,"  as  to  priests  and 
Jesuits.  Twenty-eight  days  only  were  given  all  such 
persons  to  depart  the  kingdom.  A  great  number  emi-* 
grated,  but  about  an  equal  number  remained.  A  thou> 
sand  victims  dared  to  rdmain  to  be  captured  and  executed, 
and  the  cruel  perseverance  with  which  they  were  hunted 
down  resembles  more  the  revengeful  horrors  of  romance 
than  the  truths  of  history.  "  Some  of  them  were  burnftd 
before  a  slow  fire ;  some  were  put  on  the  rack,  and  tor- 
tured to  death;  whilst  others,  like  Ambrose  Cahill  and 
James  O'Reilly,  were  not  only  slain  with  the  greatest 
cruelty,  but  their  inanimate  bodies  were  torn  into  frag- 
ments, and  scattered  before  the  wind."*  The  Dominican 
order  counts  thirty  Irish  martyrs  within  its  decade ;  the 
Augustinians  an  equal  number;  the  Franciscans  still 
more;  the  losses  of  the  Jesuits  must  have  been  great. 
Of  the  destruction  of  the  secular  clergy  there  is  no  rec- 
ord, but  of  near  a  thousand  who  remained  in  Ireland 
after  the  proclamation  of  1652,  it  is  certain  not  one  half 
outlived  Oliver  Cromwell. 

Fearful  as  was  the  persecution  of  the  clergy,  nobles, 
and  peasants,  the  afflictions  of  those  who  lived  in  gar- 
risoned districts  were  scarce  less.  Upon  these  the  soldiery 
were  billeted  at  free  quarters,  and  from  them  their  pay 
was  collected  weekly. 

"  Along  with  the  three  scourges  of  God,"  says  an 
eye-witness,  — "  famine,  plague,  and  war,  there  was 
"  another,  which  some  called  the  fourth  scourge,  to  wit, 
"  the  weekly  exaction  of  the  soldiers'  pay,  which  was 
"  extorted,  with  incredible  atrocity,  each  Saturday, — 
"  bugles  sounding  and  drums  beating.  On  these  occa- 
"  sions  the  soldiers  entered  the  various  houses,  and 
"  pointing  their  muskets  to  the  breasts  of  men  and 
"  women,  threatened:  them  with  instant  death  if  the 
*^  sum  demand,ed  was  not  immediately  given.    Should  it 

*  Croly's  Life  of  Archbishop  Plunket,  Dublin,  1850,  O'Djily's  l*er8eo« 
titions,  Dr.  Frendi's  Tracts,  and  Peter  Walsh's  Histoiy  of  the  Remon- 
•tronce,  are  the  bctst  contemporary  anthocitiMk 


^ 


X, 


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T 


\^# 


] 


i 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


133 


♦  "  have  so  happened)  that  the  continual  payment  of 
"  these  pensions  bad  exhausted  the  means  of  the  people, 
"  bed,  bedding,  sheets,  table  cloths,  dishes,  and  every 
"  description  of  furniture,  nay,  the  very  garments  of  the 
"  women,  torn  off  their  persons,  were  carried  to  the 
"  market-place  and  sold  for  a  small  sum  ;  so  much  so, 
"  that  each  recurring  Saturday  bore  a  resemblance  to 
"  the  day  of  judgment,  and  the  clangor  of  the  trumpet 
"  smote  the  people  with  terror  almost  equal  to  that  of 
"  doomsday."  * 

*  Domiciliary  visits  were  made  at  all  hours  of  the  night 
and  day,  and  the  godly  soldiers  of  the  Covenant,  like 
other  rigid  theorists,  showed,  by  the  licentiousness  of 
their  lives,  how  very  far  an  affected  austerity  is  from  real 
piety  and  purity. 

Moreover,  the  "  navigation  act,"  passed  by  the  Pro- 
tector ostensibly  against  the  Dutch,  struck  still  more 
severely  at  the  Irish  seaports.  From  them,  nominally 
under  the  same  government,  all  direct  trade  with  the 
colonies  was  cut  off.  By  securing  the  monopoly  of  the 
"  carrying  trade "  to  "  British  bottoms,"  Ireland  was 
ordered  off  the  ocean  as  a  trespasser ;  nor  has  she  ever 
yet  recovered  what  she  lost  during  the  long  continuance 
of  that  most  partial  and  unjust  statu te.f  This  and 
other  laws  of  the  commonwealth  were  enacted  in 
London,  the  two  kingdoms  being  placed  by  the  Pro- 
tector under  one  general  legislature. 

Oliver  died  in  September,  1658,  to  the  great  delight 
of  the  Catholics.  Immediately  a  presentiment  of  King 
Charles's  return  filled  the  minds  of  men.  Though 
Richard  Cromwell  was  proclaimed  Protector,  at  London 
and  Dublin,  no  one  expected  him  to  hold  power.  Im- 
itating the  adroit  policy  of  General  Monk,  Broghili 
Coote,  Inchiquin,  and  other  Irish  Puritans,  besieged 
Athlone,   Limerick,  Clonmel,  and  Waterford,  and  de- 

"  •  Lynch's  Life  of  Bishop  Kirwan. 

t  CromweU's  navigation  act,  the  basis  of  the  maritime  code  of 
England,  was  reenacted  by  Charles  II.'s  first  Parliament :  repealed  by 
the  Irit>h  Parliament  in  1779,  after  operaling  abttvt  9kmatnty.  It  hea 
^Mn  finally  abolished  in  England,  in  1849. 

12 


.*■  # 


134 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


clared  for  the  king.  At  the  restoration,  next  year, 
Broghill  was  made  Earl  of  Orrery,  Coote  Earl  of 
Mountrath,  and  the  rest  confirmed  in  their  parliamenta- 
rian grants.  Though  the  greater  part  of  their  spoils 
were  also  secured  to  them,  the  Dublin  Puritans,  in 
common  with  their  English  brethren,  never  relished 
the  restoration.  In  1665,  under  Colonel  Blood,  they 
attempted  to  seize  the  Castle  of  Dublin  but  the  plot 
failed; 

Twenty  years  later  we  find  them  active  against 
James,  and  devoted  to  William.  A  leaven  of  the  old 
spirit  of  Hugh  Peters  and  Stephen  Jerome  has  always 
lingered  in  the  Irish  capital,  but  its  activity  has  been 
only  an  irritant  to  the  more  powerful  and  better  dis- 
posed classes  of  that  population.  Presbyterian  Derry. 
submitted  to  the  restoration  with  similar  insincerity.         u 

The  Puritan  and  Presbyterian  powers  had  Ireland, 
as  we  have  seen,  at  their  mercy  for  a  dozen  .yRars. 
They  succeeded  in  destroying  many,  in  converting 
none.  They  fought  bravely,  giving  no  quarter  to  "  the 
uncircumcised."  They  rooted  out  the  Irish  gentry,  and 
exiled  or  martyred  the  clergy.  They  had  imported  into 
Ireland  the  seeds  of  every  kindred  sect,  but  not  one  of 
them  took  root.*  They  had  violated  shrines,  defaced 
tombs,  defiled  altars,  and  beheaded  priests ;  but  they  had 
not  made  twenty  Puritans  in  all  broad  Ireland !  It  is 
recorded  with  wonderment  in  the  records  of  Galway 
that  in  that  populous  city  they  had  a  solitary  convert, 
one  Lynch  Fitz-Thomas,  who,  it  is  added,  died  of 
remorse  and  a  broken  heart.  They  were  less  successful 
even  than  Browne  and  St.  Leger,  than  Strafford  and 
Usher.  These  first  reformers  could  fill  a  pew,  at  a 
pinch,  but  as  for  the  poor  Puritans,  all  their  Irish  con- 
verts might  have  been  stowed  into  Hugh  Peters's  pulpit. 

Of  the  chief  of  the  ferocious  sect,  Oliver  Cromwell, 
we  need  say  but  little.     The  perverse  spirit  of  a  litera- 


*  « Ind^endents,  Anabaptists,  Seceders,  Brownists,  Socinians,  Mil- 
lenarians,  and  Dissenters  of  every  description  "  formed  **  this  new 
colaay:'-^^pMch  of  Lord  ChtmdOtor  C^am^  on  the  Irith  Unioth  1800; 


#  .- 


PROTE    TANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


135 


.^ 


#^  tore  whose  boast  is  to  glorify  success  and  worship 
mere  strength,  has  striven  to  exalt  him  into  a  hero. 
It  entirely  depends  on  the  standard,  whether  or  not  you 
find  him  to  be  a  hero.  If  candor,  bravery,  gentleness, 
justice,  generosity,  and  unostentatious  devotion  be 
heroic  attributes,  Oliver  was  none.  If  craft,  courage, 
hypocrisy,  and  slaughter  make  a  hero,  he  was  self- 
made. 

Irish  tradition  has  kept  his  memory  in  a  proverb 
which  makes  his  name  synonymous  with  hunger  and 
vermin.*  History,  informed  by  the  spirit  of  our  holy 
religion,  condei  nns  him  as  one  of  the  most  wicked  and 
detestable  of  the  fallen  children  of  Adam. 


*  "The  curse  of  Crom-nrell"  is,  till  this  day,  the  bitterest  malediction 
known  to  the  Irish  peasantry. 


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A.   D.    1660    TO    1787. 


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RESTORATION   OF   CHARLES   II. 


UNTIL  THB 


DEATH  OF   GEORGE  I. 

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CHAPTER   L 

SESTOBATION  OF  CHARLES  H.— ACT  OF  SBITLBMENT ORMOND'S 

ATTEHFr  TO  GALLICANIZE  THE  IRISH  CHURCH. —STNOD  OF  1666. 
—  LORD  BERKELET'S  VICEROYALT Y.  —  THE  NEW  TEST  ACT — 
"THE  POPISH  PLOT."— MARTYRDOM  OF  PRIMATE  PLUNKETT.^ 
ASSASSINATION  OF  COUNT  REDMOND  O'HANLON. 

After  ten  years  of  exile,  Charles  11.  was  restored  to 
the  throne  of  England,  in  the  spring  of  1660.  His  min- 
isters were  chosen  from  among  the  companions  of  his 
banishment — the  principal  being  Lord  Clarendon,  for 
chancellor,  and  the  Marquis,  now  Duke  of  Ormond,  for 
lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland.  Ormond  brought  with  him 
to  Dublin  a  lively  recollection  of  the  opposition  given  to 
his  designs,  twenty  years  before,  by  the  bishops,  and  pow- 
ers of  intrigue  which  the  shifts  of  exile  had  practised  to 
perfection. 

The  king,  in  his  declaration,  signed  and  sealed  af; 
Breda,  the  year  before  his  restoration,  had  pledged  him- 
self against  persecution.  "  We  do  declare,"  he  said,  "  a 
liberty  to  tender  consciences ;  and  that  no  man  shall  be 
disquieted,  or  called  in  question  for  matters  of  religion 
which  do  not  disturb  the  peace  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  that 
we  shall  be  ready  to  consent  to  such  an  act  of  Parlia- 
ment, as,  upon  mature  deliberation,  shall  be  offered  to  us 
for  the  full  granting  of  that  indulgence."  The  year  of  his 
restoravion,  in  his  speech  ^  the  nev.  Parliament,  he  had 
also  said,  "  I  hope  I  need  say  nothing  of  Ireland,  and 
that  they  alone  shall  not  be  without  the  full  benefit  of 
my  mercy;  they  have  showed  much  affection  to  me 
abroad,  and  you  will  have  a  care  of  my  honor  and  of 
what  I  have  promised  them."  Such  was  Charles's  per- 
sonal relation  to  the  Irish  Catholics. 

Respect  for  the  king^s  pledges,  as  well  as  his  natural 
turn  of  mind,  led  Ormond  again  to  temporize  with  the  Irish 


i 


140 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


V 


bishops.  In  this  case,  he  employed  Father  Peter  Walsh, 
a  native  of  Kildare,  and  graduate  of  Louvain,  a  Francis- 
can by  profession,  but  a  Gallican  and  a  tuft-hunter. 
Early  in  1661,  Father  Walsh  procured,  from  the  Irish  prel- 
ates on  the  continent,  a  power  of  attorney  to  act  as  their 
"  procurator,"  within  certain  limits.  "  You  must  humble 
yourselves  more,"  wrote  Walsh  to  his  principals;  "  I  dare 
not  show  your  letters  to  the  duke."  Bishop  French, 
"  seeing  he  could  not  satisfy  God  and  his  grace  together," 
refuH?d  a  more  complete  submission,  and  Walsh,  having 
dra\vn  up  "a  remonstrance,"  or  protestation  of  Catholic 
loyalty,  could  obtain  only  the  signature  of  the  bedrid 
Bishop  of  Kilmore,  about  seven  of  the  Catholic  gentry,  a 
few  of  the  priesthood,  and  the  townsmen  of  Wexford. 
With  these  names  it  was  presented  to  King  Charles,  "  who 
reserved  a  clean  copy  of  it  for  his  own  use."  The  same 
year  the  statute  of  uniformity  was  reenacted  at  West- 
minster. 

The  Catholic  gentry  fared  almost  as  ill  as  the  exiled 
prelacy.  The  Irish  Puritan  proprietors  kept  as  their  agents 
at  court  Sir  James  Shean  and  Sir  John  Clotworthy,  at 
whose  disposal  they  placed  between  twenty  and  thirty 
thousand  pounds,  to  "  dispose  of  it  properly,"  in  "  making 
presents."  Shean  assures  his  chief  employer.  Orrery,  that 
he  made  a  good  use  of  it,  being  so  "  wary  as  to  pay  the 
money  by  other  hands"  than  his  own.  In  Ormond  and 
Clarendon  these  agents  had  powerful  friends,  and  by  them 
the  act  of  settlement  was  obtained,  by  which  all  who  had 
not  gone  over  to  Ormond  in  the  confederate  war,  or  who 
had  "  resided  in  the  enemies' "  quarters,  were  declared  diff-i* 
entitled  to  their  estates.  In  vain  eight  thousand  old  pro- 
prietors appealed  to  the  king's  mercy  and  to  his  honor. 
Out  of  that  number  less  than  a  thousand  were  heard,  and 
about  a  score  were  successful.  In  Ulster  Lord  Antrim 
and  Sir  Henry  O'Neil,  in  Connaught  Lord  Clanrickarde, 
Lo^d  Mayo,  Colonel  O'Kelly,  and  Colonel  Moore  only 
were  restored.  The  act  of  explanation,  formally  indorsing 
the  new  arrangement  of  Irish  titles,  was  passed  in  1665, 
and  received  the  king's  sanction.  For  their  services  in 
procuring  its  enactment,  Clarendon  had  eight  thousand 


A  ■ 


*' 


if* 


■'■■•i 


■ij« 


,;*-..   ,^i;..     ^, 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


141 


*  #* 


pounds,  Sir  Heneage  Finch,  the  king's  solicitor,  six  thou- 
sand pounds,  and  Ormond  over  sixty  thousand  pounds, 
besides  the  fee  simple  of  Kilkenny  city,  procured  for  him 
by  the  Puritan  l^/ids.  The  Cromwellians  by  this  act 
had  seven  million  eight  hundred  thousand  Irish  acres  con- 
firmed to  them.  The  situation  of  the  old  Irish  proprie- 
tors, hangers-on  at  the  eourt  of  Charles,  was  miserable 
in  the  extreme.  In  vain  Lord  Castlemaine  (or  whoever 
wrote,  in  1666,  the  memorial  called  "  Castlemaine's 
Apology  for  the  Catholics")  represented  their  case  in 
most  moving  terms.  "  Consider,  we  beseech  you,"  he 
said,  'Hhe  sad  condition  of  the  Irish  soldiers  now  in 
England;  the  worst  of  which  nation  could  be  but  in- 
tentionally so  wicked,  as  the  acted  villany  of  many 
English,  whom  your  admired  clemency  pardoned.  Re- 
member how  they  left  the  Spanish  service  when  they 
heard  their  king  was  in  France,  and  how  they  forsook 
the  employment  of  that  unnatural  prince,  after  he  had 
committed  the  never-to-be-forgotten  act  of  banishing 
his  distressed  kinsman  out  of  his  kingdom.  These  men 
left  all  again  to  bring  their  monarch  to  his  home :  and 
shall  they  then  be  forgotten  by  you  ?  "  All  in  vaid  ! 
No  eloquence  could  reach  the  Parliameht,  still  largely 
tinctured  with  Puritanism.  Their  fanaticism  may  be 
judged  from  the  fact  of  their  attributing  the  great  fire 
of  London,  in  1666,  to  the  Papists,  instead  of  to  narrow 
streets  and  wooden  houses. 

The  claims  of  the  Catholic  gentry  being  successfully 
resisted,  Ormond  lent  his  hand  anew  to  overreaching 
the  episcopacy.  Seeing  the  king  so  weak,  and  the 
Parliament  so  strong,  the  bishops  were  willing  to  waive 
some  of  the  claims  advanced  at  the  restoration.  All 
Europe  had  remarked  on  the  breach  of  the  royal  faith 
plighted  to  them,  and  it  was  deemed  politic  by  the 
king's  ministers  to  show  some  desire  to  redeem  the 
pledges  of  Breda.  In  this  spirit  the  duke  proposed  a 
synod  of  such  of  the  surviving  bishops,  abroad,  as 
he  should  grant  passes  to  for  that  purpose.  Father 
Walsh'  J  remonstrance,  the  propositions  adopted  by  the 
Univei'slty  of  Paris  in  1663,  and  some  Irish  books,  pub- 


,W: 


y% 


'  • 


142 


ATTEMPT8    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


*A 


lisbed  at  Lisbon,  advocating  the  abstract  right  of 
Ireland  forcibly  to  separate  from  England,  were  to  be 
submitted  to  them  —  the  first  two  for  approval,  these 
last  for  formal  condemnation.  On  these  topics,  the 
lieutenant  anticipated  either  division  or  disagreement : 
"  Set  them  at  open  differejice,"  wrote  the  Earl  of  Cork, 
"  that  we  may  reap  some  practical  advantage  thereby.", 
"  My  object,"  responded  Ormond,  "  was  to  work  a  divi»^ 
sion  among  the  Romish  clergy."  * 

No  subjects  of  debate  could  be  better  chosen  for  the 
purpose  than  Gallican  and  Ultramontane  principles. 

Thio  memorable  synod,  which  tested  so  severely  the 
fortitude  of  the  outlawed  bishops,  met  in  Dublin,  on  the 
11th  of  June,  1666,  and  sat  fifteen  days.  The  primate, 
O'Reilly,  the  Bishop  of  Meath,  the  vicars  of  four  other 
bishops,  (all  who  then  remained  alive,)  and  the  superiors 
of  the  regular  orders  attended.  The  regular  clergy  at 
the  time,  in  Ireland,  amounted  to  eleven  hundred, 
and  the  seculars  to  seven  hundred  and  eighty.  By 
these,  through  their  representatives,  the  propositions 
of  Paris  were  formally  rep'idiated,  and  "the  remon- 
strance "  set  aside  as  of  questionable  orthodoxy.  They 
condemned  the  books  advocating  separation  from  Eng- 
land, and  presented  a  succinct  declaration  of  their 
own  loyalty.  Wherever  the  propositions  or  the  remon- 
strance had  trenched  on  the  Papal  supremacy,  they 
courageously  condemned  both.f  On  the  25th,  the  synod 
was  ordered  to  disperse,  the  bishops  and  vicars  fled,  and 
all  seminaries  and  convents  were  closed  by  proclama- 
tion. Primate  O'Reilly,  after  being  imprisoned  in 
England,  was  allowed  to  exile  himself.  In  1669,  he 
died  at  Brussels,  and  Dr.  Oliver  Plunkett,  a  professor 
in  the  College  de  Prjpaganda  Fide  was  sent  from 
Rome  to  fill  his  place. 

♦  Curry's  CJivil  Wars,  book  ix.  c.  14.  —  Carte's  Life  of  Ormond,  vol.  iL 
Appendix,  p.  10.  The  letter  of  the  duke  to  Lord  Orrery  is  given  in 
Curry's  Civil  Wars. 

t  Walsh's  History  of  the  Remonstrance.  Charles  Butler's  Memoirs 
of  the  Catholics,  vol.  iii.  p.  420. 


•# 


>    • 


n 


■tMMI 


v- 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


143 


^ho  Catholic  exiles  abroad  filled  Europe  with  their 
denunciations  of  Ormond's  persecution,  v/hich  was 
almost  as  severe  as  Cromwell's.  The  pope  and  the 
King  of  Spain  joined  in  reproaching  Charles.  His 
court  was  divided  into  factions,  and  he  himself  seems 
only  to  have  hoped  that  the  monarchy  might  outlast  his 
day.  In  1669,  however,  Ormond  was  removed  from  the 
viceroyalty,  and  after  a  few  months  of  Lord  Roberts, 
Lord  Berkeley,  a  pro-Cathollc,  was  appointed,  through 
the  influence  of  the  Duke  of  York,  afterwards  James  II. 
Lord  Berkeley's  administration  was  a  blessed  calm  to  the 
Irish  Catholics.  Primate  Piunkett  openly  visited  his 
diocese,  confirming  children,  consecrating  churches,  and 
ordaining  priests.  A  synod  was  allowed  to  sit  in 
Dublin,  without  interference  of  the  state.  Peter  Talbot, 
archbishop  of  the  city,  was  received  in  his  robes  at  the 
castle.  Chapels  were  connived  at  in  every  ward ;  new 
priests  arrived  by  every  ship;  Catholic  aldermen  were 
admitted  to  the  municipal  councils,  and  some  Catholic 
cor.^moners  were  elected  to  Parliament. 

Emboldened  by  these  signs,  the  Catholic  gentry, 
disinherited  by  the  act  of  settlement,  appointed  Colonel 
Richard  Talbot,  one  of  the  Duke  of  York's  favorites, 
special  agent  to  promote  their  claims  at  London.  In 
August,  1671,  notwithstanding  the  rigorous  opposition 
of  Ormond,  Orrery,  and  Finch,  a  royal  commission  wa» 
issued,  during  the  recess  of  Parliament,  to  inquire  into 
the  allegations  of  the  petitioners.  A  regular  storm  arose 
in  consequence,  and  the  Puritan  majority  of  the  new 
House  of  Commons,  in  1673,  compelled  the  king  to  recall 
Lord  Berkeley,  and  to  rescind  "  the  declaration  of  indul- 
gence  to  dissenters,"  granted  three  years  before.  They 
did  not  stop  here :  they  proceeded,  in  the  infamous  "  test 
act,"  to  declare  every  person  incapable  of  civil  or  mili- 
tary employment  who  did  not  take  the  oath  of  su- 
premacy, renounce  transubstantiation,  and  "  receive  the 
sacrament "  according  to  their  heretical  form ;  they  de- 
manded that  all  convents  and  seminaries  should  be 
closed,  that  all  Catholics  should  be  expelled  from  cor* 
porate    towns,   and   that    Colonel   Talbot   should    be 


pi  mmmiM  I   ^ 


fm"m 


0.^ 


I 


144 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


y 

'% 


arrested.    The  king,  to  whom  the  very  name  of  a  Parlia- 
ment was  terrible,  yielded  on  every  point.     Archbishop 
Talbot,  with   his  brother,  being  specially  named  in  the 
parliamentary  address,  had  to  fly  into  France  for  present   ^ 
safety.    •  •  ' 

After  three  years  of  truce  or  toleration,  the  war  was 
thus  renewed  on  the  Irish  church.  In  these  years  she 
had  undergone  such  reparation  as  enabled  her  to  sur- 
vive the  terrible  storms  then  approaching.  The  primate, 
Oliver  Plunkett,  a  .an  of  rare  sagacity,  goodness,  and 
energy,  had  increased  the  secular  clergy  from  eleven 
hundred  to  above  two  thousand ;  healed  the  breaches 
between  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  and  while  i 
maintaining  the  dignity  of  his  own  see,  had  aided 
in  the  restoration  of  several  others.  His  astonishing 
labors  were  the  best  proof  that  he  was  the  worthiest  of 
all  the  Irish  church  to  fill  the  see  which  St.  Patrick 
had  founded,  and  which  St.  Malachy  had,  under  simi- 
lar circumstances,  repaired. 

Lord  Essex,  Berkeley's  successor,  continued  viceroy  in 
Ireland  till  1677,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  old  .Ormond. 
He  permitted  the  secret  exercise  of  Catholic  worship, 
which  Ormond,  now  that  the  war  bishops  were  all  dead, 
would  probably  have  continued  to  allow,  had  not  "  the 
Popish  Plot "  suddenly  broke  out  in  London.  News  of 
the  discovery  reached  him  in  his  castle  at  Kilkenny  in 
October,  1678,  and  though  in  private  he  ridiculed  the 
clumsy  inventions  of  Oates  and  Bedloe,*  he  publicly 
affected  great  anxiety  and  activity  in  bringing  the  ac- 
cused parties  to  justice. 

This  horrible  delusion,  known  as  "  the  Popish  Plot," 
was  one  of  those  periodical  paroxysms  of  superstition 
and  bigotry  to  which  the  English  popular  mind  has, 
since  the  reformation,  been  subject.  Its  author  was 
Titus  Oates,  "a  drunken  and  disorderly  minister"  of 
the  establishment ;  a  wretch  who  had  left  his  character 
in  the  stews,  and  his  ears  in  the  pillory;  yet  was  he 
implicitily  believed,  not  only  against  priests  and  Jesuits, 

■—    ■  ■  ^         I  .    ■■  .1  ■       -         ■       -II         I  II       ■■  » »ll«  .      I.Bi,  .  ■, ■■■,!    —III...— ■    ■■  ,1        ■■■■■ 

*™..  •  Carte's  Life  of  Ormond. 


4 


■f 


«     PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


145 


Plot," 
[rstition 
lid  has,  ^ 
lor  was 
[er"  of 
liaracter 
I  was  he 
Ijesuits, 


but  against  peers  of  the  reahn,  and  even  the  king's  con- 
sort and  brother.  His  success  excited  rivals ;  Bedloe, 
Carstairs,  and  Dangerfield  appeared  in  quick  succession, 
and  the  wildest  inventions  of  romance  were  probable, 
compared  to  their  narratives.  Yet,  on  such  testimony, 
scores  of  innocent  lives  were  taken,  and  the  fatal  prison 
cells,  throughout  both  kingdoms,  were  crowded  with  the 
"  suspected." 

This  reign  of  terror  was  made  the  pretext  for  ex- 
tending the  test  act  to  the  peers  of  the  realm.  James, 
Duke  of  York,  and  seven  others,  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
protested  against  a  measure  to  that  effect;  but  the  meas- 
ure passed.  The  duke  was  next  driven  from  the  privy- 
council,  and  an  attempt  made  to  exclude  him  and 
his  issue  from  the  throne  ;  but  after  a  protracted  contest, 
and  two  dissolutions  of  Parliament,  it  failed,  and  the 
duke's  friends  increased  as  the  credit  of  the  plot  and 
the  health  of  Charles  declined.  James's  conduct  at  this 
juncture,  as  well  as  his  marriage  with  Mary  of  Modena, 
a  Catholic,  caused  him  to  be  regarded  as  the  head  and 
hope  of  the  Catholics  of  both  islands. 

While  "  the  plot "  raged,  Ormond  adopted  the  most 
severe  measures  against  the  Irish  Catholics,  lie  seized 
Archbishop  Tn^'  ot  oi  Dublin,  "then  in  a  dying  way,", 
and  threw  him  into  the  castle  prison,  where,  in  1681, 
he  expired.  H»-  issued  a  proclamation,  dated  October  16, 
ordering  all  bishops,  priests,  and  Jesuits  to  depart  the 
kingdom  by  the  20th  of  November.  Another  proclama- 
tion commanded  all  ship  masters,  outward  bound,  to 
carry  them  away  ;  another  offered  large  rewards  for 
every  officer  and  soldier  who  might  bn  found  attending 
mass ;  another  banished  all  Catholic  from  the  principal 
walled  towns  and  cities.  An  earlier  proclamation,  in  1679, 
ordered  "the  kindred  and  friends"  (<f  all  recusants,  or 
"  persons  out  on  their  keeping,"  to  be  seized  and  impris- 
oned till  the  said  persons  were  "either  killed  or  taken;" 
also,  that  whenever  a  murder  was  committed,  and  the 
murderer  not  discovered,  "the  pretended  Popish  parish 
priest"  (if  any)  should  be  transported  beyond  the  seas 
till  the  murderer  was  "  either  killed  or  taken."    "  Vast 


13 


^ft^r* 


^' 


146 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


^ 


numbers  of  priests  were  shipped  off,"  on  these  ahd  other 
pretences,  "and  the  rest  lurked  in  holes  and  corners." 
Some,  for  their  heroic  devotion  to  their  missions,  paid 
the  final  penalty  of  death  on  the  scaffold. 

Among  the  martyrs  of  this  age,  the  most  illustrious  in 
rank  and  virtues  was  the  primate.  On  the .  issuing  of 
the  proclamation,  he  left  his  usual  residence,  and  went 
secretly  to  lodge  in  a  village  called  Castletown  Bellew. 
Here  he  held  a  last  ordination,  and  here,  on  the  6th  of 
December,  1679,  he  was  arrested,  on  a  charge  of  exer- 
cising ecclesiastical  authority  contrary  to  law.  The 
next  year  this  charge  was  dropped,  and  the  more  tangible 
oqe  of  high  treason  taken  up.  One  Hetherington,  an 
accomplished  English  "discoverer"  of  the  Oates  school, 
was  sent  over  by  Shaftesbury  "  to  obtain  information ; " 
and  by  him  a  score  of  good  swearers  were  readily  en- 
listed. These  wretches,  and  those  they  accused,  were 
ordered  to  London  for  the  trial.  Lord  Burke  of  Brittas, 
and  some  others,  arrested  on  the  same  evidence,  escaped 
by  the  glaring  contradiction  of  the  witnesses ;  but  the 
primate  was  not  equally  fortunate,  though  the  witnesses 
against  him  w^ere  also  contradictory.  In  1680,  he  had 
been  lodged  in  Newgate,  London,  "where  for  six 
months  no  Christian  came  near  him,  nor  did  he  know 
how  things  stood  in  the  world."  His  trial,  brought  on 
in  May,  and  postponed  till  June,  was  had  before  a 
bench  that  knew  neither  justice  nor  good  manners. 
Jeffreys,  then  a  sergeant,  was  the  chief  prosecutor.  The 
principal  witnesses  were  Duffy  and  McMoyer,  two 
friars,  whom  he  had  been  forced  to  degrade  for  their 
vices.  The  charge  was,  that  he  had  conspired  to  bring 
in  the  French  at  Carlingford,  and  to  raise  another  Irish 
rebellion.  The  "  discoverers  "  of  course  swore  roundly 
The  primate,  who  made  his  own  defence,  contended, 

I.  That,  by  law,  he  should  have  been  tried  in  Ireland. 

II.  That,  a  copy  of  the  indictment  being  refused  him,  he 
could  have  no  defence  ready.  III.  That  at  least  he 
should  be  allowed  time  to  bring  his  witnesses  over  from 
Ireland.  After  his  clear  and  able  demonstration  of  the 
legality  of  the  trial,  the  following  remarkable  scfine 
took  place;— I  ) 


O^v 


^p 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELANI^ 


167 


A  few  days  after  the  signing  of  the  treaty,  arid  before 
the  English  or  outer  town  was  delivered,  a  French  fleet, 
entered  the  Shannon,  "  with  thirty  thousand  arms,  one 
thousand  men,  two  hundred  oflicers,  ammunitioh  and  pro- 
vision ; "  but  Irish  honor  was  proof  against  the  trial 
thus  put  upon  it.  In  Dublin,  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
were  displeasing  to  the  Puritans ;  but  Willialn  received 
them  with  evident  pleasure.  De  Ginkle  had  three  earl- 
doms given  him,  and  a  medal  was  struck,  copomemo- 
rating  the  event,  with  the  motto,  "  Limerica  cdpta^  Hi' 
bernia  subacta,  Octobris^  1691." 


to  declare,  that  we  do  for  us,  our  heirs,  and  successors,  as  l^r  as  in  us 
lies,  ratify  and  confirm  the  same,  and  every  clause,  mattei^  ^d  thing 
therein  contained.  And  as  to  such  parts  thereof,  for  •whion  an  act  of 
l*arliament  shall  be  found  to  be  necessary,  we  shall  reccpimcnd  the 
same  to  be  made  good  by  Parliament,  and  shall  give  our  ro^  assent  to 
any  biU  or  bills  that  shall  be  passed  by  our  two  houses  of  ^ilflianient  to 
that  purpose.  And  whereas  it  appears  unto  us,  that  it  was  agreed 
between  the  parties  to  the  said  articles,  that  after  the  woid9  Limerick, 
Clare,  Keri^,  Cork,  Mayo,  or  any  of  them,  in  the  second  of  the  said 
articles ;  which  words  having  been  casually  omitted  by  the  writer,  the 
articles,  the  words  following,  viz.  'And  all  such  as  are  under  their  pro- 
tection in  the  said  counties,'  should  be  inserted,  and  bo  part  fpf  the  said 
omission,  was  not  discovered  till  after  the  said  articles  were  signed,  but 
was  taken  notice  of  before  the  second  town  was  surrendered,  imd  that 
our  said  justices  and  general,  or  one  of  them,  did  promise  that  the  said 
clause  should  be  made  good,  it  being  within  the  intention  of  the  capitu- 
lation, and  inserted  in  the  foul  draft  thereof :  Our  further  will  and 
pleasure  is,  and  we  do  hereby  ratify  and  confirm  the  said  omitted  Words, 
viz.,  <  And  all  such  as  are  under  their  prelection  in  the  said  coun^BS,' 
hereby  for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  ordaising  and  declaring  thaS  all 
■and  every  person  and  persons  therein  concerned  shall  and  may  have, 
receive,  and  enjoy  the  benefit  thereof,  in  such  and  the^me  manner  as 
if  the  said  words  had  been  inserted  in  their  proper  ple£ce  in  the  said 
second  article,  any  omission,  defect,  or  mistake  in  tHe  ij^d  second  article 
in  any  wise  notwithstanding.  Provided  always,  and  p^t  vful  and  pleas- 
ure is,  that  these  our  letters  patents  shall  be  enrolle'^jn  pur  court  of 
chancery,  in  our  said  kingdom  of  Ireland,  within  the  sjt||^^  pn^-Jrear 
next  ensuing.  In  witness,  &c.,  witness  ourself  at  Wesft^niiter,.  the 
twenty-fourth  day  of  February,  anno  regni  regis  et  reginse  G^iljielmi  & 
Mariee  quarto  per  breve  de  privato  sigillo.  Nos  autem  tenorem  prclntsflor. 
predict.  Ad  requisitionem  attornat.  general,  domini  rcgia  et  dominse 
reginw  pro  regno  Hibernia;.  Duximus  exempliiicand.  per  presentes.  In 
cujus  rei  testimonium  has  literas  nostras  fieri  fecimus  patentes.  Testibus 
nobis  ipsis  apud  Westmon.  quinto  die  Aprilis,  annoq.  regni  corum  quarto. 

BlODftKS. 

Examinat.  (  S.  Keck.  )  In  Cancel,       ,  »,,>.,  ^    -^ 

per  nos,  |  Lacom  Wu.  Cuilde.    )  MagUtros" 


■.- 


168 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


The  patholic  army  once  well  away  from  the  Lrish 
shore,  the  sovereigns  and  the  Parliament  began  to  tam- 
per with  the  treaty.  The  following  year,  an  oath  of 
allegianci^  altogether  different  from  that  prescribed  by 
art.  ix.,  i^as  enacted  by  Parliament,  and  approved 
by  Willianq^.  <||In  this  oath,  the  Catholic  was  called  on 
to  swear  U^  did  not  believe  "that  in  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord'r  supper  there  is  any  transubstantiation  of  the 
elementjji"  "  that  the  invocation  or  adoration  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  or  any  other  saint,  and  the  sacrifice  of  the 
mass,  a^  they«>are  now  used  in  the  church  of  Rome,  are 
damnafate  and  idolatrous."  An  "  oath  of  abjuration  "  was 
framed  &  the  following  session,  binding  Catholics  "  to 
abhor,  d^est,  and  abjure,  as  impious  and  heretical,  that 
damnaole  doctrine  and  position,  that  princes  excommu- 
nicated #  deposed  by  the  pope,  or  any  authority  olf  •  the 
see  of  l^ome,  may  be  deposed  and  murdered  by  their 
subjects^l "  furthermore,  obliging  them  to  swear  that  no 
foreign  prince,  person,  or  prelate  "  hath  any  jurisdic- 
tion, power,  superiority,  preeminence,  or  authority,  eccle- 
siastical or  spiritual^  within  this  realm."  Here  were 
two  flajjrant  violations  of  the  second  and  ninth  articles, 
and,  iipeed,  of  the  whole  treaty. 

Buli  bad  faith  did  not  stop  even  here.  The  Dublin 
Parliament,  made  up  chiefly  of  bigots  and  mere  adven- 
turers, settled  after  the  late  war,  passed  an  act,  in 
1694,  "  for  the  confirmation  of  articles  made  at  the  sur- 
reilder  of  Limerick,"  which  actually  abolished  those  arti- 
cles altogether.  This  act  did  not  recite  the  articles,  in 
whole  or  part,  but,  in  the  words  of  the  lords'  protest, 
"  altered  both  their  sense  and  meaning,"  and  left  *'  those 
in  whose  favor  they  were  granted  in  a  worse  position 
than  before."  This  protest  was  signed  by  the  Lords 
Londonderry,  Tyrone,  and  Duncannon,  by  the  Protes- 
tant Bishops  of  Elphin,  Derry,  Clonfert,  KillaJa,  and  the 
Barons  of  Ossory,  Limerick,  Killaloe,  Kerry,  Howth, 
Kingston,  and  Strabane.  Still  the  act  passed,  and  re- 
ceived the  seal  and  signature  of  William  and  Mary. 

That  ancient  instrument  of  Oppression,  a  commission 
to  inquire  into  defective  titles,  shortly  issued,  and  decreed 


i 

PROTESTANT    REFORMAtlON    IN    IRELAND.  169 


that  1,060,792  acres  were  forfeited  to  the  crown.  This 
was  the  last  fragment  of  the  patrimony  of  the  faithful 
Catholic  inhabitants.  Whien  King  William  died,  there 
did  not  remain  to  the  class  which,  a  century  before, 
owned  three  fourths  of  the  Irish  isoil,  above  "  one  sixth 
part "  of  what  their  grandfathers  held  in  f^.* 

The  penal  code  of  Elizabeth  and  the  Stuarts  was 
revived,  and  new  and  worse  disabilities  enacted  in  addi- 
tion. By  the  7th  of  William  III.  cap.  4,  no  Papist 
could  keep  a  school,  or  teach  in  private  families,  except 
the  children  of  the  family ;  no  Papist  could  beaf  arms, 
contrary  to  the  express  terms  of  art.  vii.  of  thef  treaty ; 
by  the  same  statute,  to  send  a  child  beyond  8e£a  was  a 
felony,  the  case  to  be  tried  by  a  justice,  not  by  a  jury, 
and  the  burden  of  proof  to  fall  on  the  accused.^  By  the 
9th  William  III.  cap.  3,  -mixed  marriages  werl  forbid- 
den, and,  if  either  parent  were  a  Protestant,  "  the  chil- 
^  '^n  could  be  taken  from  the  other  to  be  rearec^ui  that 

:^h."  No  Papist  could  be  a  legal  guardian^ — the 
court  of  chancery  to  appoint  one,  and  educate  t|fe  ward 
a  Protestant.  By  the  same  statute,  rewards  were  fixed 
for  informers  against  the  violators  of  those  la%8,  the 
amount  to  "  be  levied  on  the  Papist  inhabitants  M  the 
county."  Such  was  the  way  in  which  King  Wiqiam, 
of  pious  and  immortal  memory,  perjured  his  own  %>ul, 
and  avenged  himself  on  a  gallant,  defeated  enemy.f  * 

The  condition  of  the  Irish  church  at  William's  dea^ 


*  Bedford's  Compendious  and  Impartial  View  of  the  Laws  affecting 
Roman  Catholics.     London,  1829,  p.  15. 

t  In  defence  of  the  intentions  of  William,  it  has  been  stated  that  ho 
persecuted  less  from  zeal  or  temper  than  to  propitiate  the  native  bigotry 
of  his  new  kingdom.  At  one  time  he  had  a  proclamation  prepared,  and 
even  printed,  guarantying  the  Irish  Catholics  "  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion,  half  the  church  establishment,  and  the  moiety  of  their  ancient 
properties."  This  document,  called  *'  the  secret  proclamation,"  was 
•«  suppressed  on  the  first  intelligence  of  the  treaty  of  Limerick." —  Moore'a 
Captain  Rock.  p.  118,  where  John  Dryden  is  quoted,  as  a  contemporary 
witness,  that  William  "  was  most  unwilling  to  pewecutc,"  but  was  driven, 
to  do  so  by  the  ultra  Protestants,  headed  by  Dr.  Tennison,  Archbisliop 
of  Canterbury.  His  resistance  to  the  bigots  tloes  not  seem  to  have  been 
very  vigorous  or  protracted,  and  we  see  no  good  Jreason  to  relieve  his 
memory  of  the  odium  that  must  attach  to  it  on  account  of  Ireland  ■ 

1§ 


170 


i 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


was  truly  lamentable.  -  In  1688  and  1689,  it  had  received 
a  great  accession  of  pastors  and  religious  from  abroad. 
In  Dublin,  Limerick,  and  other  cities,  monasteries  had 
been  restored,  and  churches  re«idified.  When  the  mili- 
tary emigration  took  place,  a  few  of  the  clergy  accom- 
panies iti  but  the  rest  remained,  truatiirig  to  the  treaty 
for  proteildon.  Between  1696  and  1699,  four  hundred 
and  ninety-five  secular  and  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  regular  clergymen  were  banished  the  kingdom,  and 
even  the  poor  nuns  bad  to  fly.  At  Ypres,  Lisbon,  and 
Antwerp,  they  gathered  themselves  again  into  commu- 
nity, adding  the  sorrow  of  exile  to  the  other  mortifica- 
tions of| their  lives.  Two  or  three  hundred  of  the  clergy 
only  relnained,  and  they  were  hidden  in  "  holes  and 
cornersi'  The  majority  of  the  sees  were  adminii^tered 
by  vicafs,  and  remained  for  years  without  bishops.   * 

But  4lot  alone  did  edfclesiastics  feel  the  practical  effects 
of  thepdolat^bn  of  the  treaty.  There  was  still  enough 
of  prcmerty  left  among  the  Catholics  to  repay  the  labors 
of  the||iew  commissioners.  "  From  the  report  made  by 
the  coinmissioners  appointed  by  the  Parliament  of  Eng- 
land fi  1698,"  says  Lord  Clare,  "  it  appears  that  the  Irish 
8ubj(^ts  outlawed  for  the  rebellion  of  1688  amounted  to 
397|f;  and  thao  their  Irish  possessions,  as  far  as  could  be 
coihputeu,  were  of  the  annual  value  of  .£211,623,  com- 
rising  one  million  sixty  thpusand  seven  hundred  and 
finety-two  acres.  This  fund  was  sold  under  the  author- 
ty  of  an  English  act  of  Parliament,  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses incurred  by  England  in  reducing  the  rebels  in 
1688 ;  and  the  sale  introduced  into  Ireland  a  new  set  of 
adventurers."  *  These  new  adventurers  were  chiefly  Ger- 
man Protestants,  whose  descent  nts  in  Munster  are 
known  as  "  Palatines"  until  this  aay. 

We  need  not  wonder  that  among  the  few  Catholics 
of  property  mentioned  m  the  next  two  reigiiS,  scarce  any 
(if  we  except  Sir  Toby  Butler)  ventured  to  protest  against 
the  last  acts  of  this  naional  perfidy. 


■m 


*  Lord  Chancellor  Clar^i's  speech  on  the  Union. 
1800. 


Dublin,  (pamphlet,) 


fMr*"'!   "     f -- fr ■riHttiiV  iilirfciii 


iliWH«miiiri.nillirr .^ 


>.-' 


PROTESTANT   BEFORMATION    IN   IRELAND. 


171 


CHAPTER    IV. 


-*\ 


QUEEN  ANNE'S  EEIGN.  — "ACT  TO  DISCOURAGE  THE  QEOWTH  OF 
POPERY."  — SIB  TOBY  BUTLER  HEARD  AT  TEUS  BAR  OF  THfl 
HOUSES  OF  PARLIAMENT.  -  HIS  ARGUMENT.  —  IMMENSE  EMI* 
ORATION. ->  PRIEST   HUNTING.  —  PRIMATE    MCMAHON. 


Queen  Anne  succeeded  William  in  1702.  In  the  next 
year,  according  to  the  law^of  Poynings,  "  the  heads  of 
bills"  were  prepared  by  the  Irish  Parliament,  to^be  sent 
over  to  England.  Among  those  wai5  the  infamotss  ''  act 
to  prevent  the  further  growth  of  Popery,"  which  pro- 
vided that  the  eldest  son  of  a  Catholic,  on  becoming  an  . 
apostate,  might  turn  his  father's  estate  into  a  tenantry 
for  life,  and  take  the  fee  simple  and  rental  to  himself. 
By  the  same  statute,  if  a  Catbii|lc  inherited  property,  he 
should  conform  within  six  months  from  the  date  the 
title  accrued,  or  the  estate  be  forfeited  to  the  next  "  Prot- 
estant heir."  By  statute  of  the  same  year,  (2  A||ne,  cap. 
3,  sec.  7,)  if  an  unregistered  priest  was  delfected,  a 
heavy  fine  was  to  be  levied  on  the  county  in  which  he 
was  found,  and  the  proceeds  paid  over  to  the  idformer 
or  detective.  Against  this  bill,  when  first  propoi^d  at 
Dublin,  the  few  remaining  Catholics  of  influence,  head- 
ed by  Viscount  Kingsland,  Colonels  Brown,  Burke,  and 
Nugent,  Major  Pat,  Allen,  and  Arthur  French,  peti- 
tioned. The  Parliament  proceeded,  and  the  bill  wiaa 
returned  from  London  with  the  approval  of  the  queln 
and  her  council.  The  Catholics,  advised  by  Sir  Toby 
Butler,  who,  with  a  few  others,  had  been  tolerated  in 
the  profession  of  law  through  family  interest,  renewed 
their  opposition  to  it. 

,  On  the  22d  of  February,  1703,  Sir  Toby,  with  whortl 
were  Sir  Stephen  Rice  and  Counsellor  Malone,  appeared 
at  the  bar  of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons,  against 
the  bill  "to  prevent  the  further  growth  of  Popery." 
The  abstract  of  his  speech  on  that  occasion  is  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  documents  of  the  age.  It  is  full 
of  interest  and  information.    We  copy  from  it  at  length^; 


172 


t 


ATTEMPTS    TO   ESTABLISH    THE 


"  Sir  Theobald  Butler  first  moved  and  acquainted  the 

house,  that,  '  by  the  permission  of  that  house,  he  was 

come  thither  in  behalf  of  himself,  and  the  rest  of  the 

Roman  Catholics  of  Ireland  comprised  in  the  articles 

of  Limerick  and  Galway,  to  offer  some  reasons,  which 

he  and  the  rest  of  the  petitioners  judgjed  very  material, 

against  passing  the  bill,  entitled  An  act  to  prevent  the 

further  growth  of  Popery ;  that,  by  leave  of  the  house, 

he  had  taken  a  copy  of  the  said  bill,  (which  he  had 

there  in  his  hand,)  and,  with  submissioi^,  looked  upon 

it  to  ijend  to  the  destroying  of  the  said  articles,  granted 

upon  the  most  valuable  considerations  of  surrendering 

the  said  garrisons,  at  a  time  when  they  had  the  sv/ord 

in  their  hands ;  and,  for  any  thing  that  appeared  to  the 

contrary,  might  have  been  in  a  condition  to  hold  out 

much  longer,  and  when  it  was  in  their  power  to  qe- 

mand,  and  make  for  themselves,  such  terms  as  might 

be  for  their  then  future  liberty,  safety,  and  security ; 

and  that,  too,  when   the   allowing   such  terms  were 

highly  advantageous  to  the  government  to  which  they 

submitted ;  as  well  for  uniting  the  people  that  were 

then  divided,  quieting  and  settling  the  distractions  and 

disorders  of  this  then  miserable  kingdom,  as  f&r  the 

other  advantages  the  ,^overnment  would  thereby  reap 

in  its  own  affairs,  both  at  home  and  abroad  ;  when  its 

enemies  were  so  powerful,  both  by  sea  and  land,  as  to 

ive  doubt  of  interruption  to   its   peace  and  settle- 

iient.' 

'"  That,  by  such  their  power,  those  of  Limerick  did, 

"  for    themselves,   and    others    comprised,   obtain   and 

"  make  such  articles,  as  by  which  all  the  Irish  inhabit- 

"  ants  in  the  city  and  county  of  Limerick,  and  in  the 

"  counties  of  Clare,  Kerry,  Cork,  Sligo,  and  Mayo,  had 

"  full  and  free  pardon  of  and  for  all  attainders,  outlaW- 

"  ries,  treasons,   misprision  of    treasons,  felonies,   tres- 

*•*  passes,  and  other  crimes  whate.ver,  which  at  any  time 

"  from  the  beginning  of  King  James  II,  to  the  3d  of 

"  October,  1691,  had   been  acted,  cpmmitted,  or  done 

"  by  them,  or  any  of  them ;    and  iy  which  they  and 

^  their  heirs  were  to  be  forthwith  put  in  possession  of, 


r7> 


J,  iiirliBMSWI 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


173 


**  and  forever  possess  and  enjoy,  all  and  every  of  their 
<<  freeholds  and  inheritance ;  and  all  their  rights,  titles, 
"  and  interests,  privileges  and  immunities,  which  they 
"  and  every  of  them  held  and  enjoyed,  and  by  the  laws 
"  in  force  were  entitled  unto,  in  the  reign  of  King 
"  Charles  II.,  or  at  any  time  since,  by  the  laws  and 
"statutes  theit  \vere  in  force  in  that  reign,  &c. ;  and 
"  thereupon  read  so  much  of  the  second  article  of  Lim- 
"  erick,  as  tended  to  that  purpose. 

"  That,  in  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II.,  the  petitioners, 
''  and  all  that  were  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  those  iirticles, 
"  were  in  such  full  and  free  possession  of  their  estates, 
"  and'  had  the  saqae  power  to  sell,  or  otherwise  to  dis- 
"  pose,  or  coavey  them,  or  any  other  thing  they  enjoyed ; 
"  and  were  as  rightfully  entitled  to  all  the  privileges,  im- 
"  munities,  and  other  advantages  whatever,  according 
"  to  the  laws  then  in  force,  as  any  other  subjects  what- 
"  soever,  and  which,  therefore,  without  the  highest  in- 
"  justice,  could  not  be  taken  from  them,  unless  they  had 
"  forfeited  them  themselves.  •  •  . 

"  That  if  they  had  made  any  such  forfeiture,  it  was 
"  either  before  or  after  the  making  of  the  said  articles  : 
"if  before,  they  had  a  full  and  free  pardon  for  that 
"  by  the  said  articles,  &c.,  and,  therefore,  are  not  ac- 
"  countable  by  any  law  now  in  force  for  the  same^  and 
"for  that  reason  not  now  to  be  charged  with  it;  and 
"  since  they  cannot  be  charged  with  any  general  forfeit- 
"  ure  of  those  articles  since,  they  at  the  same  time  re- 
"  raained  as  absolutely  entitled  to  all  the  privileges,  ad- 
"  vantages,  and  benefits  of  the  laws,  both  already  made 
"  and  hereafter  to  be  made,  as  any  other  of  her  iiiajesty's 
"  subjects  whatsoever. 

"  That  among  all  societies  there  were  fipme  ill  peo- 
"  pie ;  but  that,  by  the  10th  article  of  Limerick,  the  whole 
"  community  is  not  to  be  charged  with,  nor  forfeit  by,  the 
"  crimes  of  particular  persons. 

"  That  there  were  already  wholesome  laws  in  force 

"  sufficient,  and  if  not,  such  as  were  wanting  josaght  be 

"  made,  to  punish  every  offender  according  tc^^ihe  (lature 

"  of  the  crime  :  and  in  tlie  name  of  God  let  the  gioilty 

15* 


174  ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 

I  *       '■' 

"  suffer  ior  their  own  faults;  but  the  innocent  ought  not 
"  to  suffer  for  the  guilty,  nor  the  whole  for  any  particu- 
"  lar.  That  surely  they  would  not  now  (they  had 
"  tamely  got  the  sword  out  of  their  hands)  rob  them  of 
"  what  was  in  their  power  to  have  kept ;  for  that  would 
^'  be  unjust,  at  not  according  to  that  golden  rule,  to  do 
"  as  they  would  be  done  by,  was  the  case  reversed,  and 
'<  the  contrary  side  their  own. 

"  That  the  said  articles  were  first  granted  them  by  the 
"  general  of  the  English  army,  upon  the  most  important 
"  consideration  of  getting  the  city  of  Limerick  into-  his 
"  handfi^  (when  it  was  in  a  condition  to  have  held  out 
"  till  it  might  have  been  relieved  by  the  succors  then  com- 
"  ing  to  it  from  France,)  and  tor  preventing  the  further 
**  elusion  of  blood,  and  the  other  ill  consequences  whiph 
"  (by  reason  of  the  then  divisions  and  disorders)  the 
<<  nation  then  labored  under ;  and  for  reducing  those  in 
"  arms  against  the  English  government  to  its  obedience. 

"  That  the  said  articles  were  signed  and  perfected  by 
<<  the  said  general,  and  the  then  lords  justices  of  this 
"  kingdom ;  and  afterwards  ratified  by  their  late  majes- 
"  ties,  for  themselves,  their  heirs,  and  successors ;  and 
"  have  been  since  confirmed  by  an  act  of  Parliament  in 
*'  this  kingdom,  viz.,  stat.  9  Gull.  3,  ses.  4,  cap.  27, 
*^  (which  he  there  produced  and  pleaded,)  and  said  could 
"  not  be  avoided  without  breaking  the  said  articles,  and 
"  tlie  public  faith  thereby  plighted  to  all  those  comprised 
"  under  the  said  articles,  in  the  most  solemn  and  enga- 
*<  ging  manner  it  is  possible  for  any  people  to  lay  them- 
**  selves  under,  and  than  which  nothing  could  be  more 
"  sacred  and  binding.  That,  therefore,  to  violate,  or 
"  break  those  articles,  would,  on  the  contrary,  be  the 
"  greatest  injustice  possible  for  any  one  people  of  the 
"  whole  world  to  iufiict  upon  another,  and  which  is  con- 
"  trary  to  both  the  laws  of  God  and  man. 

"  That,  pursuant  to  these  articles,  all  those  Irish  then 
"  in  arms  against  the  government  did  submit  thereunto, 
"  and  surrendered  the  said  city  of  Limerick,  and  all 
*<  other  garrisons  then  remaining  in  their  possession ; 
*^  and  did  take  such  oaths  of  fidelity  to  the  king  and 


# 


m 


^^ 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


175 


<*  queen,  &c.,  as  by  the  said  articles  they  were  obliged 
*'  to,  and  were  put  into  possession  of  their  estttes,  &c. 

**  That  such  their  submissions  was  upon  such  terms 
<*  as  ought  now,  and  at  all  times,  to  be  made  good  to 
"  them  ;  but  that  if  the  bill  then  before  ^he  house,  enti- 
"  tied  An  act  to  prevent  the  further  growth  of  Popery, 
*^  should  pass  into  a  law,  (whicli,  said  he,  God  forbid :) 
"  it  would  be  not  only  a  violation  of  those  articles,  but 
"  also  a  manifest  breach  of  the  public  faith,  of  which 
^'  the  English  had  always  been  most  tender  in  many  in- 
"  stances,  some  of  which  he  there  quoted  ;  and  that,  in 
"  pi:Tticular,  in  the  preamble  of  the  act  before  mentioned, 
"  made  for  confirmation  of  these  articles,  wherein  there 
^'  is  a  particular  regard  and  respect  had  to  the  public 
"  faith. 

"  That  since  the  said  articles  were  thus  under  the 
"  most  solemn  ties,  and  for  such  valuable  considerations 
"  granted  the  petitioners,  by  nothing  less  than  th«  gen- 
"  eral  of  the  army,  the  lords  justices  of  the  kingdom,  the 
"  king,  queen,  and  Parliament,  the  public  faith  of  the 
"  nation  was  therein  concerned,  obliged,  bound,  and 
"  engaged,  as  fully  and  firmly  as  was  possible  for  one 
"  people  to  pledge  faith  to  another ;  that,  therefore,  this 
*^  Parliament  could  not  pass  such  a  bill  as  that  entitled 
"An  act  to  prevent  the  further  growth  of  Popery,  then 
"  before  the  house,  into  a  law,  without  infringing  those 
"  articles,  and  a  manifest  breach  of  the  public  faith  ;  of 
"  which  he  hoped  that  house  would  be  no  less  regardful 
"  and  tender  than  their  predecessors,  who  made  the  act 
"  for  confirming  those  articles,  had  been. 

"  That  the  case  of  the  Gibeonites  (2  Sam.  xxi.  1)  was 
"  a  fearful  example  of  breaking  of  public  faith,  which, 
"  above  one  hundred  years  after,  brought  nothing  less 
"  than  a  three  years'  famine  upon  the  land,  and  stayed 
"  not  till  the  lives  of  all  Saul  s  family  atoned  for  it. 

♦*  That  even  among  the  heathens,  and  most  barbarous 
"  of  nations  all  the  world  over,  the  public  faith  had  al^ 
"  ways  been  held  most  sacred  and  binding ;  that  surely  it 
"  would  find  no  less  a  regard  in  that  august  assembly. 

<^  That,  if  he  proved  that  the  passing  that  act  was  such 


176 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


"  a  manifest  breach  of  those  articles,  and,  consequently, 
"  of  the  public  faith,  he  hoped  that  honorable  house 
"  would  be  very  tender  how  they  passed  the  said  bill  be- 
"  fore  them  into  a  law,  to  the  apparent  prejudice  of  the 
•*  petitioners,  and  the  hazard  of  bringing  upon  them- 
"  selves  and  posterity  such  evils,  reproach,  and  infamy, 
<'  as  the  doing  the  like  had  brought  upon  other  nations 
"  and  people. 

"  Now,  that  the  passing  such  a  bill  as  that  then  before 
"  the  bouse,  to  prevent  the  further  growth  of  Popery  will 
"  be  a  breach  of  those  articles,  and,  consequently,  of  the 
"  public  faith,  I  prove  (said  he)  by  the  following  argu- 
«  ment" 

Upon  all  these  propositions  the  great  orator  was  full 
and  cogent,  but  especially  upon  the  clause  which  held 
out  to  the  sons  of  Catholics  the  estates  of  their  fathei*^, 
as  a  reward  for  apostasy. 

"  By  the  first  of  these  clauses,  (which  is  the  third  of  the 
"  bill,)  I,  that  am  the  Popish  father,  without  committing 
"  any  crime  against  the  state,  or  the  laws  of  the  land, 
"  (by  which  only  I  ought  to  be  governed,)  or  any  other 
"  fault,  but  merely  for  being  of  the  religion  of  my  fore- 
"  fathers,  and  that  which,  till  of  late  years,  was  the 
"  ancient  religion  of  these  kingdoms,  contrary  to  the 
"  express  words  of  the  second  article  of  Limerick,  and 
"  the  public  faith  plighted  as  aforesaid  for  their  perform- 
"  ance,  am  deprived  of  my  inheritance,  freehold,  &c., 
"  and  of  all  other  advantages,  which,  by  those  arti- 
"  cles,  and  the  laws  of  the  land,  I  am  entitled  to  en- 
"joy?  equally  with  every  other  of  my  fellow-subjects, 
"  whether  Protestant  or  Popish.  And  though  such  my 
"  estate  be  even  the  purchase  of  my  own  bard  labor  and 
"  industry,  yet  I  shall  not  (though  my  occasions  be 
"  never  so  pressing)  have  liberty  (after  my  eldest  son  or 
"  other  heir  becomes  a  Protestant)  to  sell,  mortgage,  or 
"  otherwise  dispose  of,  or  charge  it  for  payment  of  my 
"  debts ;  or  have  leave,  out  of  my  own  estate,  to  order 
"  portions  for  my  other  children ;  or  leave  a  legacy, 
"  though  never  so  small,  to  my  poor  father  or  mother,  or 
"  other  poor  relations ;  but  during  my  own  life,  my  estate 


tm 


m' 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


Iff 


tly, 

186 

be- 
m- 

113 


Id   ^ 

'3,      ■■ 


shall  be  given  to  my  son  or  other  heir,  being  a  Protest 
tant,  though  never  so  undutiful,  proiiigate,  extravagant, 
or  otherwise  undeserving  ;  and  I,  that  ara  the  purchase 
ing  father,  shall  become  tenant,  for  life  only,  to  my  own 
purchase,  inheritance,  and  freehold,  which  I  purchased 
with  my  own  money ;  and  such  my  son  or  other  heir, 
by  this  act,  shall  be  at  liberty  to  bcU  or  otherwise  at 
pleasure  to  dispose  of  my  estate,  the  sweat  of  my 
brows,  before  my  face ;  and  I,  that  am  the  purchaser, 
shall  not  have  liberty  to  raise  one  farthing  upon  the 
estate  of  ray  own  purchase,  either  to  pay  my  debts  or 
portion  my  daughters,  (if  any  I  have,)  or  make  pro- 
visions for  my  other  male  children,  though  never  so 
deserving  and  dutiful :  but  my  estate,  and  the  issues 
and  prohts  of  it,  shall,  before  my  face,  be  at  the  dis- 
posal of  another,  who  cannot  possibly  know  how  to 
distinguish  between  the  dutiful  and  undutiful,  de- 
serving or  undeserving.  Is  not  this,  gentlemen,  (said 
he,)  a  hard  case  ?  I  beseech  you,  gentlemen,  to  con- 
sider, whether  you  WoJ-ld  not  think  so,  if  the  scale 
was  changed,  and  the  case  your  own,  as  it  is  like  to  be 
ours,  if  this  bill  pass  into  a  law.  i 

"  It  is  natural  for  the  father  to  love  the  child ;  but  we 
all  know  (says  he)  that  children  are  but  too  apt  and 
subject,  without  any  such  liberty  as  this  bill  gives,  to 
slight  and  neglect  their  duty  to  their  parents;  and 
surely  such  an  act  as  this  will  not  be  an  instrument  of 
restraint,  but  rather  encourage  them  more  io  it. 
"  It  is  but  too  common  with  the  son,  who  has  a  pros- 
pect of  an  estate,  when  once  he  arrives  at  the  age  of 
one  and  twenty,  to  think  ihe  old  father  too  long  in  the 
way  between  him  and  it ;  and  how  much  more  will  he 
be  subject  to  it,  when,  by  this  act,  he  shall  have  lib- 
erty, before  he  comes  to  that  age,*  to  compel  and  force 
my  estate  from  me,  without  asking  my  leave,  or  being 
liable  to  account  with  me  for  it,  or  out  of  bis  share 
thereof,  to  a  moiety  of  the  debts,  portions,  or  other  en- 
cumbrances, with  which  the  estate  might  have  been 
charged  before  the  passing  this  act ! 
^'  Is  not  this  against  the  laws  of   God  and  man  ! 


178 


ATTEMPTS    TO    E8TABLI8U    THE 


"  against  the  niles  of  reason  and  justice,  by  which  all 
"  men  ought  to  be  governed  ?  Is  not  this  the  only  way 
"  in  the  world  to  make  children  become  undutiful  ?  and 
"  to  bring  the  gray  head  of  the  parent  to  the  grave  with 
"  grief  and  tears  ? 

"  It  would  be  hard  from  any  man ;  but  from  a  son,  a 
"  child,  the  fruit  of  my  body,  whom  I  have  nursed  in  my 
"  bosom,  and  tendered  more  dearly  than  my  own  life,  to 
"  )ecome  my  plunderer,  to  rob  me  of  my  estate,  to  cut 
"  my  throat,  and  to  take  away  my  bread,  is  much  more 
"  grievous  than  from  any  other,  and  enough  to  make 
"  the  most  flinty  of  hearts  to  bleed  to  think  on  it.  And 
"  yet  this  will  be  the  case  if  this  bill  pass  into  a  law ; 
"  which  I  hope  this  honorable  assembly  will  not  think 
"  of,  when  they  shall  more  seriously  consider,  and  have 
"  weighed  these  matters. 

"  For  God's  sake,  gentlemen,  will  you  consider 
"  whether  this  is  according  to  the  golden  rule,  to  do 
"  as  you  would  be  done  unto  ?  And  if  not,  surely  you 
"  will  not,  nay,  you  cannot,  without  being  liable  to  be 
"  charged  with  the  most  manifest  injustice  imaginable, 
"  take  from  us  our  birthrights,  and  invest  them  in  others 
"  before  our  faces." 

Further,  he  arraigned  the  bill,  as  contrary  to  all  the 
laws  of  nations,  in  this  close  logical  style. 

"  Surely,  gentlemen,  this  is  such  a  law  as  was  never 
"  heard  of  before,  and  against  the  law  of  right,  and  the 
"  law  of  nations ;  and  therefore  a  law  which  is  not  in  the 
"  power  of  mankind  to  make,  without  breaking  through 
"  the  laws  which  our  wise  ancestors  prudently  provided 
"for  the  security  of  posterity,  and  which  you  cannot 
"  infringe  without  hazarding  the  undermining  the  whole 
"  legislature,  and  encroaching  upon  the  privileges  of 
"  your  neighboring  Nations,  which  it  is  not  reasonable  to 
"  believe  they  will  allow. 

"  It  has  indeed  been  known  that  there  have  been 
"  laws  made  in  England  that  have  been  binding  in  Ire- 
"  land ;  but  surely  it  never  was  known  that  any  law 
"  made  in  Ireland  could  affect  England  or  any  other 
"  country.    But,  by  this  act,  a  person  committing  matri- 


t, 


'I 


PROTESTANT    RBFORMATION    IN    iRfiLAND. 


170 


*'  moiiy  (an  ordinance  of  the  Almighty)  in  England,  or 
<<  any  other  part  beyond  the  seas,  (where  it  is  lawful 
"  both  by  the  lawB  of  God  and  man  so  to  do,)  if  ever 
*^  they  come  to  live  in  Ireland,  and  have  :tn  inheritance 
"  or  title  to  any  interest  to  the  value  of  X500,  they  shall 
"  be  punished  for  a  fact  consonant  with  the  laws  of  the 
"  land  where  it  was  committed.  But,  gentlemen,  by 
^^  your  favor,  this  is  what,  with  submission,  is  not  in 
"  your  power  to  do ;  for  no  law  that  either  now  is,  or 
<'  that  hereafter  shall  be  in  force  in  this  kingdom,  shall 
"  be  able  to  take  cognizance  of  any  fact  committed  in 
<'  another  nation ;  nor  can  any  one  nation  make  laws  for 
"  any  othejt  nation,  but  what  is  suh  lirdinate  to  it,  as  Ire- 
"  land  is  ta  England  ;  but  no  other  nation  is  subordinate 
"  to  Ireland,  and  therefore  any  laws  made  in  Ireland 
"  cannot  punish  me  for  any  fact  committed  'n  any  othei^ 
"  nation,  but  more  especially  England,  to  whoj  Ire* 
"  land  is  subordinate.  And  the  reason  is,  e\f.r/  free 
"  nation,  such  as  all  our  neighboring  natic  '^  are,  by  the- 
"  great  law  of  nature,  and  the  universal  j  riv  Jeges  of  all 
"  nations,  have  an  undoubted  right  to  make,^  and  be 
"  ruled  and  governed  by  laws  of  their  own  making ; 
"  for  that  to  submit  to  any  other  would  be  to  give  away 
"  their  own  birthright  and  native  freedom,  and  become 
"  subordinate  to  their  neighbors,  as  we  of  this  kingdom, 
*'  since  the  making  of  Poyninga's  act,  have  been  and  are 
"  to  England  — ^  a  right  which  England  would  never  so 
"  much  as  endure  to  hear  of,  much  less  to  submit  to. 

"  We  see  how  careful  our  forefathers  have  been  to 
"  provide  that  no  man  shall  be  T^.nished  in  one  county 
"  (even  of  the  same  nation)  i^v  crimes  committed  in 
"  another  county  ;  and  surely  it  would  be  highly  unrea^ 
"  sonable,  and  contrary  to  thr  laws  of  fdl  nations  in  the 
"  whole  world,  to  punish  rae  im  this  kingdom  for  a  fact 
"  committed  in  England,  or  any  other  nation,  which  was 
"  not  against,  but  consistent  with,  the  laws  of  the  nation 
"  where  it  was   committed.      I   am    sure  there   is   not 

any  law  in  any  other  nation  of  the  v*rcrld  that  would 
«  do  it." 

In  conclusion.  Sir  Toby  contended,  —  * 


(( 


^i 


;."» 


180 


ATtBMPTS    to   ESTABLISH    THfii 


\l 


!l 


"  The  ninth  clause  of  this  act  is  another  manifest 
«  breach  of  the  articles  of  Limerick ;  for,  by  the  ninth 
"of  those  articles,  no  oath  is  to  be  administered  to,  nor 
"  imposed  upon,  such  Roman  Catholics  as  should  sub- 
"  mit  to  the  government,  but  the  oath  of  allegiance, 
"  appointed  by  an  act  of  Parliament  made  in  England, 
"  in  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  their  late  majestiesj  King 
"  William  and  Queen  Mary,  (which  is  the  same  with 
"  the  first  of  those  appointed  by  the  tenth  clause  of  this 
"  act ;)  but  by  this  clause,  none  shall  have  the  benefit  of 
"  this  act  that  shall  not  conform  to  the  church  of  Ire» 
"  land,  subscribe  the  declaration,  and  take  and  subscribe 
"  the  oath  of  abjuration,  appointed  by  the  ninth  clause 
"  of  this  act;  and  therefore  this  act  is  a  manifest  breach 
"  of  those  articles,  Afcc,  and  a  force  upon  all  the  Roman 
"  Catholics  therein  comprised,  either  to  abjure  their  reli« 
"  gion,  or  part  with  their  birthrights ;  which,  by  those 
"  articles,  they  Were,  and  are,  as  fully  and  as  rightfully  en* 
"  titled  to  as  any  other  subjects  whatever. 

"  The  tenth,  eleventh,  twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  four- 
"  teentht  clauses  of  this  bill  (said  he)  relate  to  offices 
"  and  employments  which  the  Papists  of  Ireland  cannot 
"  hope  for  the  enjoyment  of,  otherwise  than  by  grace 
*'  and  favor  extraordinary ;  and  therefore  do  not  so  much 
"  affect  them  as  it  does  the  Protestant  dissenters,  who 
^*  (if  this  bill  pass  into   a  law)  are   equally  with  the 
"  Papists  deprived  of  bearing  any  office,  civil  or  military,  • 
**  under  the  government,  to  which  by  right  of  birth)  and 
"  the  laws  of  the  land,  they  are  as  indisputably  entitled  aa 
"  any  other  their  Protestant  brethren.     And  if  what  the  ^ 
"  Irish  did  in  the  late  disorders  of  this  kingdom  made 
**  them  rebels,  (Which  the  presence  of  a  king  they  had 
**  before  been  obliged  to  oWn,  And  swear  obedience  to,  "*" 
"  gave  them  a  reasonable  color  of  concluding  it  did  not,) 
"  yet   surely  the   dissenters   did   not   do   any  thing  to 
"  make  them  so,  or  to  deserve  worse  at  the  hands  of 
"  the  government  than  other  Protestants ;    but.,  on  the 
"  contrary,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  if  they  (I  mean  ^ , 
"  the  dissenters)  had  not  put  a  stop  to  the  career  of  the  ^" 
"  Irish  army  at  Eniiishillen  and  Londonderry^  the  settle* 


limi  Vi"  iritiii>Bli| 


PROTfiStANT    llE^ORMAtlON    tN   IRELAND. 


181 


"  ment  of  the  government,  both  in  England  and  Scot* 
"  land,  might  not  have  proved  so  easy  as  it  thereby  did ; 
*'  for  if  that  army  had  got  to  Scotland,  (as  there  was 
"  nothing  at  that  time  to  have  hindered  them  but  the 
"  bravery  of  those  people,  who  were  mostly  dissenters, 
"  and  chargeable  with  no  other  crime  since ;  unless  their 
"  close  adhering  to  and  early  appearing  for_the  then 
"  government,  and  the  many  faithful  services  they  did 
"  their  country,  were  crimes,)  I  say,  (said  he.)  ii  they  had 
"  got  to  Scotland,  when  they  had  boats,  barks,  and  all 
"  things  elsejeady  for  their  transportation,  and  a  great 
"  many  fi*iends  there  in  arms,  w^aiting  only  their  coming 
*'  to  join  them,  -—it  is  easy  to  think  what  the  consequence  ^ 
"  would  have  been  to  both  these  kingdoms ;  and  these 
"  dissenters  then  were  thought  fit  for  command,  both 
"  civil  and  military,  and  were  no  less  instrumental  in 
"  contributing  to  the  reducing  the  kingdom  than  any 
*'  other  Protestants ;  and  to  pass  a  bill  now,  to  deprive 
"  them  of  their  birthrights,  (for  those  their  good  ser* 
"  vices,)  would  surely  be  a  most  unkind  return,  and  the 
"  worst  reward  ever  granted  to  a  people  so  deserving* 
"  Whatever  the  Papists  may  be  supposed  to  have  de* 
*'  served,  the  dissenters  certainly  stand  as  clean  in  the 
"  face  of  the  present  government  as  any  other  people 
**■  whatsoever ;  and  if  this  is  aU  the  return  they  are  like 
"  to  get,  it  will  be  but  a  slender  encouragement,  if 
"  ever  occasion  should  require,  for  others  to  pursue 
"  their  examples. 

"  By  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  clauses 
«  of  this  bill,  all  Papists^  after  the  24th  of  March,  1703, 
"  are  prohibited  from  purchasing  any  houses  or  tene* 
"  ments,  or  coming  to  dwell  in  any,  in  Limerick  or  Gal* 
'"  way,  or  the  suburbs  of  either,  and  even  such  as  were 
"  under  the  articles,  and  by  virtue  thereof  have  ever 
"  since  lived  there,  from  staying  there,  without  giving 
"  such  security  as  neither  those  articles,  nor  any  law 
"  heretofore  in  force,  do  require ;  except  seamen,  fisher* 
"  men,  and  day  laborers,  who  pay  not  above  forty  shil* 
"  lings  a  year  rent ;  and  from  voting  for  the  election  of 
"  members  of  Parliament,  unless  they  take  the  oath  of 
16 


'.i. 


182 


ATTBMPrs  TO  ESTABLISH  TUB  %^ 


\ : 


abjuration;  which  to  oblige  them  to  is  contrary  to 
the  ninth  of  Limerick  articles ;  which,  as  aforesaid, 
says  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  no  other,  shall  be  im- 
posed upon  them ;  and,  unless  they  abjure  their  religion, 
takes  away  their  advowsons  and  right  of  presentation, 
contrary  to  the  privilege  of  right,  the  law  of  nations,  and 
the  great  charter  of  Magna  Charta ;  which  provides, 
that  no  man  shall  be  disseized  of  his  birthright,  without 
committing  som«,  crime  against  the  known  laws  of  the 
land  in  which  li^  is  born,  or  inhabits.  And  if  there 
was  no  law  in  rorce,  in  the  reign  of  King  Charles 
II.,  against  these  things,  (as  there  certainly  was  not,) 
and  if  the  Roman  Catholics  of  this  kingdom  have  not 
since  forfeited  their  right  to  the  laws  that  then  were 
in  force,  (as  for  certain  they  have  not,)  then,-  with  hum- 
ble submission,  all  the  aforesaid  clatises  and  matters 
contained  in  this  bill,  entitled  An  act  to  prevent  the  fur- 
ther  growth  of  Popery^  are  directly  against  the  plain 
words  and  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  said  articles, 
and  a  violation  of  the  public  faith,  and  the  laws  made 
for  their  performance;  and  what  I  therefore  hope  (said 
he)  this  honorable  house  will  consider  accordingly." 
Counsellor  Malone  was  also  heard,  and*  Sir  Stephen 
Rice,  as  a  party  interested,  offered  some  remarks.  But 
their  arguments  were  fruitless.  The  bill  wan  engrossed 
and  sent  to  the  Lords,  where,  on  the  28th  of  February, 
Sir  Toby  and  Malone  were  again  heahcd  against  it.  It 
was,  however,  passed,  under  the  protest  of  a  respectable 
minority,  and,  on  the  4th  of  March,  it  received  the  royal 
assent  of  the  queen.* 

•  Pamell's  Penal  Laws.  Appendix. 

Sir  Toby  Butler's  convivial  habits  caused  the  introduction  of  hia 
name  into  that  famoiis  old  song,  <'Tho  Cruiskeen  Lawn."  It  ia 
there  recorded,   that, 


vv 


♦•  At  coi^rt,  with  manly  grace. 
When  Sir  Toby  pleads  his  case, 
Until  the  veil  of  doubt  is  withdrawn— 
Without  his  cheerful  glass 
He's  as  stupid  as  an  ass : 
So,  gentlemen,  a  cruiskeen  lawn  !  " 

Many  pleasant  tales  of  Sir  Toby  have  been  preserved  in  Irish  society, 
among  them  the  following :  — 


/ 


I 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IK^RELAND. 


183 


It  was  only  at  the  bar  the  Irish  Catholics  could  look 
for  defenders,  now  that  their  soldiers  were  far  away.  In 
the  following  reign,  an  act  was  passed  excluding  Cath- 
olics from  the  profession  of  the  law — an  act  which  was 
not  repealed  until  1793.  Whatever  Catholic  leadership 
there  was  during  the  interval  was  thus  thrown  among 


"  An  action  for  the  recorery  of  debt  was  brought  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Cashel  against  Mr.  Megoe,  who  employed  Sir  Toby  Butler  as  hia 
leading  counsel.  On  the  request  of  Sir  Toby  a  brief  was  given  to  a 
young  lawyer  of  ^^od  Irish  family,  named  O'Callaghan.  This  gentle- 
man, on  the  trial,  raised  an  ingenious  point  uf  law,  which  saved  the 
estate  to  his  client.  On  the  following  morning,  the  two  barristers  break- 
fasted with  Mr.  Flegoe,  when  Sir  Toby  declared  his  wish  to  hold  some 
important  conversation  with  that  gentleman  in  the  presence  of  O'Cal- 
laghan. Having  retired,  the  following  extraordinary  conversation  en- 
sued :  — 

"  '  Mr.  Flegoe,  I  intend  to  confer  a  great  favor  on  your  family.  Here  is 
my  friend,  who  saved  a  good  estate  for  you.  He  is  a  bachelor ;  you  have 
a  daughter,  whom  you  cannot  bestow  more  honorably  than  by  marrying 
this  young  man.     Do  you  see .'' ' 

"  To  which  Mr.  Flegoe  replied,  •  Undoubtedly,  Sir  Toby,  the  alliance 
is  highly  honorable,  and  I  have  great  obligations  to  Mr.  O'Callaghan. 
At  the  same  time,  Sir  Toby  Butler  will  tlunk  it  but  reasonable  that  a 
father  who  has  an  only  daughter,  with  a  large  fortune,  should  inquire  the 
pretensions  of  the  suiter  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view.'  » 

"Whereupon  Sir  Toby  seized  hold  of  O'Callaghan's  chin,  saying, 
'  Now,  Corney,  hold  your  tongue !  I  tell  you,  Flegbe,  this  fellow's 
tongue  entitles  him  to  any  girl  in  Ireland.' 

"  O'Callaghan  continued  to  distinguish  himself  at  the  bar ;  Flegoe  gave 
him  his  daughter ;  and  such  was  the  foundation  of  the  wealth  of  his  great 
nephew.  Lord  lismore." 

In  connection  with  the  ill-fated  Father  Sheeby,  we  will  hear  again  of 
Mr.  O'Callaghan. 

Some  anecdote-hunters  have  conjectured  that  he  was  the  original 
"Toby  Philpot ;  "  but  this  is  very  doubtful.  His  social  habits  never  v.  em 
allowed  to  interfere  with  his  public  dudes.  An  anecdote  of  his  dc'  ided 
character  at  the  bar  —  one  which  only  could  become  current  of  a  r^aateic^ 
in  Ijis  profession  —  is  thus  told :  ••  Engaged  in  a  case  where  the  counsel 
opposed  to  him  seemed  to  carry  both  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  the 
jury,  he  stood  up  and  said,  '  Gentlemen  of  the  jury :  The  cause  of  oils' 
antagonist,  though  plausible,  is  bad,  if  there  be  truth  in  the  old  saying, 
that  ♦•  good  wine  njeeds  no  bush,  or  a  good  cause  no  bribery."  Here,  gen- 
tlemen of  the  jury,  is  what  was  put  into  my  hand  this  morning,  (holding 
out  a  purse  of  gold ;)  it  was  given  in  the  hope  that  it  w.ould  have  bribed 
me  into  a  lukewarm  advocpcy  of  my  client's  cause.  But  here  I  throw 
down  Achan's  weight  —  here  I  cast  at  your  feet  the  accursed  thing.' 
Anu  so  he  went  on  most  ably  to  state  his  case  and  defend  his  cause."  — 
Dublin  Penny  Journal/or  1832-33. 

Sir  Toby  was  buried  in  St.  James's  Churchyard^  Dubtin,  where  Lis 
fine  monument  still  stands. 


1^ 


AtTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH   THE 


the  traders  and  the  timid  remnant  of  the  Catholic  gentry. 
After  Sir  Toby  Butler,  there  is  a  blank  of  lawyers  —  a 
fact  which  partly  accounts  for  the  prevalence  of  illegal 
agrarian  societies,  from  about  1760,  until  the  end  of 
the  century.  Deprived  of  legal  advisers,  the  goaded 
peasantry  had  recourse,  naturally  enough,  to  other  and 
less  judicious  means  of  defence.* 

The  Irish  legislature,  the  willing  instrument  of  Anne's 
persecution,  had  not  even  that  poor  excuse  of  zeal  for  the 
honor  of  the  crown  which  was  pleaded  as  a  preamble  to 
the  old  acts  of  allegiance,  confiscation,  and  conformity. 
With  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  its  members  were 
willing  to  sacrifice  not  only  the  Catholics,  but  the  com- 
merce of  the  whole  country,  to  propitiate  their  English 
Protestant  brethren.  The  question  of  the  independence 
of  their  own  body  could  not  induce  them  to  bear  up  man- 
fully under  the  weakening  sense  of  patronage.  William 
Molyneaux,  one  of  the  members  for  Trinity  College,  tried 
in  vain  to  inspire  them  with  a  share  of  his  patriotic  cour- 
age. His  Case  of  Ireland  will  long  remain  a  monu- 
ment of  his  civic  courage,  in  a  dumb  and  degenerate  age ; 
s.nd  though  his  days  were  few  in  life,  the  days  of  his 
memory  have  been  many. 

Under  a  servile  Parliament  and  brutal  sovereign,  the 
material  interests  of  the  kingdom  rapidly  declJhed. 
Daring  Charles  IL's  reign,  a  large  balance  had  been  left, 
in  favor  of  the  country,  on  the  total  of  imports  and  ex- 
ports. But  now  the  balance  ran  all  the  other  way.  In 
1695,f  the  deficit  was  ninety-five  thousand  nine  hundred 

«-    ■     - .     ■  ...  .  .  ,, 

«  Counsellor  Malono,  who  acted  with  Butler  in  1704,  was  the  fp<^^er 
*bf  the  Itish  jtidge  Bdmand  Malone,  and  of  the  Irish  chancellor  Antnony 
Halone,  of  whom  Lord  SackviUo  said  that  *■*  Pitt,  Mansfield,  and  Ma- 
ione"  were  the  three  greatest  orators  he  had  ever  heard.  Grattan  and 
others,  wd.1  qualified  to  jttdge,  speak  of  hiia  with  equal  admiration. 
These  distitiguished  men,  alas  !  purchased  eminence  at  the  awful  price 
t>f  apostasy. 

Edmund  Malone,  the  editor  of  Shakspeare,  was  son  to  tho  judge,  and 
igrandson  to  the  Catholic  counaelloT.  Kfe  was,  in  early  life,  a  member  of 
Ihe  Irish  parliament,  and  was  one  of  the  intimates  of  Burke,  Johnson, 
Ooldsmith,  and  Reynolds,  whoso  life  he  wrote.  This  family  was  an  oflf- 
Bhoot  of  the  O'Connors. 

t  There  ai'e  no  accessible  returns  of  "  the  balance  of  trade  "  in  Ireland 
Dram  1681  to  1696.  — Dobba,  On  Iriik  Trado,  p.  6.  DrMm,  1739. 


\'^ 


i 


PHOTE8TANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


185 


le 
;o 


and  thirty-two  pounds,  and  it  was  not  till  twenty  years 
later  that  the  trade  and  revenues  began  to  recover  from 
the  losses  they  sustained  under  King  William's  par- 
liament. 

Even  the  towns  of  Ulster,  planted  with  such  care  by 
James  I.,  and  fighting  with  such  zeal  lor  William,  felt 
severely  his  proscriptive  policy.  Thousands  of  the  opera- 
tives "removed  into  the  Protestant  states  of  Germany;" 
"  several  Papists,  at  the  same  time,  removed  into  the 
northern  parts  of  Spain;"  "other  Protestants,  who  were 
embarked  with  the  Papists,  removed  into  France,  and 
settled  in  Rouen  and  other  parts."  An  eminent  English 
statesman  has  set  down  this  emigration  of  Irish  opera- 
tives at  one  hundred  thousand  men !  *  * 

While  these  fugitives  were  seeking  homes  through 
Europe,  Huguenot  refugees  were  settling  in  Spitalfields 
and  Dublin,  under  the  patronage  of  the  illiberal  Parlia- 
ment. Raised  into  independence  by  the  very  mon  who 
proscribed  native  industry,  they  invariably  refused  to 
take  Roman  Catholic  apprentices  into  their*; several 
trades.f  These  were  the  first  fruits  of  a  revolutioii  which 
faction  celebrated  as  a  deliverance  from  Popery,  prelacy, 
brass  money,  and  wooden  shoes.J 

'^^he  2d  of  Anne,  cap.  6,  gave  rise  to  an  infamous  class 
of  men,  called  "  priest-hunters,"  who  set  themselves  to 
track  and  insnare  the  disguised  clergymen  who  found 
their  way  every  spring  from  the  colleges  of  the  conti» 
nent  into  the  ports  and  creeks  of  Ireland.  Priest-hunting 
became  a  regular  trade.     Volunteers  of  better  circum- 


ln 


*  Dobbs  on  Irish  Trade,  p.  6.  Earl  Fitzwilliam's  Calculation.  Letter 
to  the  Dublin  Evening  Post,  1846. 

t  Among  other  charges  to  be  laid  by  Ireland  against  her  Protestant 
kings  is  the  most  grievous  one  of  corrupting  the  currency.  Simon  says 
of  Henry  VIII.,  "  The  ^.^oney  coined  for  Ireland  in  this  reijpi  was  little 
better  than  brass."  "  In  the  reign  of  Janps  I.,  a  proclamation  was  ist:  aed, 
ordering  the  base  money  coined  in  the  icign  of  Elizabeth  *■  •  iss  at  one 
fourth  its  former  value.  The  well-known  patent  to  Willii  -i  Wood,  for 
coining  base  money,  in  Dublin,  which  led  to  Swift's  •  Drapie^.  a  Letters,' 
will  readily  occur  to  the  Irish  reader's  memory."  — Simon,  Essay  on  L  'sh 
Coins, 

1  Otway'sHandloom  "Weavers' Report,  1839.  -^  v 

16* 


■:»* 


■Mi) 


186 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


stances  irom  the  m^^e  wantonness  of  malice,  sometimes 
joined  ia  the  pursuit  which  set  the  same  price 

"  Upon  the  head  of  wolf  and  friar." 


i 


In  the  8th  of  Anne,  the  tariff  of  blood  was  fixed  by 
law  —  for  an  archbishop,  bishop,  or  other  soperioi',  iiky 
pounds;  for  other  ec -'iesiastics,  twenty  pouiicl?  p.r  head. 

One  of  the  most  infiimous  "  informers,"  ut'der  tt\h  sys- 
tem, was  a  Povroguese  Jew,  named  fTarcri.,  setded  at 
Dublin.  He  was  very  skilful  at  di;sgr.ises.  -•  He  some- 
times put  on  the  mien  of  a  piiest,  for  hp:  effected  to  be 
one,  and  thus  worming  himself  i:;io  the  good  graces  of 
.some  confiding  Catholic,  got  a  clew  tr*  the  vv^iereabouti? 
o(  the  clergy.'"*  In  1718,  Garcia  i ncccedtd  in  arreF^ing 
seven  unregisterer^  priests,  for  whose  dotedion  be  hui  a 
su\i?  equal  to  two  or  three  ifchousand  dollars  of  Air.erican 
money,  T'>  .'•?nch  a  revolting  excess  was  this  profession 
carried,  thu I-  a.  n  Ation  set  in,  and  a  Catholic  bishop  of 
OssorVy  wlio  Iv'^d  at  the  time  these  acts  were  still  in 
force,  Ktrords  t'  at  "  ihe  priest-cat^shers'  occupation  be- 
came ^^^Kcreedinijlv  odious  both  to  Protestantn  and  Cath- 
olics,"  and  that  himself  had  seen  "ruffians  of  this  calling 
assailed  with  a  shower  of  stones,  flung  by  both  Catholics 
and  Protestants."  f  But  this  change  was  in  the  second 
George's  reign. 

Proceeding  from  excess  to  excess,  a  proposal  was  actu- 
ally made,  and,  in  the  ifhape  of  a  bill,  transmitted  into 
England,  by  the  viceroy,  Lord  Wharton,  lo  authorize 
the  castration  of  every  priest  found  in  the  island. J  The 
British  privy  council  threw  out  the  vile  proposal,  but 
not  till  it  had  attracted  the  indignation  of  all  Europe, 
and  the  active  diplomatic  interference  of  the  French 
regent,  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

The  external  condition  of  the  Irish  church  was,  truly, 
deplorable  enough.     In  1704,  under  the  registry  act,  the 

•  Meehan's  Vita  Kerovani,  Appendix,  p.  196,  "I  myself  }  ave  known 
rr.  iny  priests  thus  taktn,  who,  having  be-jn  long  detained  pr?  'n-rs,  were 
fiiibsequently  transported  beyond  seaa."  —  De  Eurgo,  Bil  Oomini', 

can.  pp.  167  and  158.  ^5 


t  Hib.  Dom. 

X  Cv'Ty's  Civil  Wars-    '  ^owded's  Ireland.. 


'^■Sr-^ 


** 


?*¥•. 


«:•" 


^■^ 


^ 


* 


4 


■M 


'"'S' 


mmmm^mgrngg 


■^anfrtmummjm^fgatum 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION   IN    IRELAND. 


187 


.ir^ 


■A 


*     ■■%. 


*■ 


total  of  the  clergy  was  found  to  be  eighteen  hundred. 
Of  these,  a  great  part,  perhaps  the  majority,  were  old  and 
inactive.  One  hundred  and  sixteen  of  them  had  been 
ordained  by  the  martyred  Archbishop  Plunkett,  nearly 
forty  years  previously,  and  a  number  of  others  by  that 
bishop's  contemporaries.  The  perils  of  the  order  were 
greatly  increased,  by  the  passage,  in  1708,  of  an  act 
obliging  all  "  registered  priests  to  take  the  oath  of  abju- 
ration before  the  25th  of  March,  1710."  This  oath,  de- 
nying transubstantiation,  the  invocation  of  saints,  and 
declaring  the  mass  idolatrous,  no  priest  could  take.  Here, 
of  course,  was  a  new  field  for  the  informers.  To  make 
their  cruel  trade  respectable,  the  precious  Parliament, 
which  cut  ou||;  their  work,  resolved,  "  that  the  prosecut- 
ing and  informing  against  Papists  was  an  honorable 
service,  and  that  all  magistrates  who  neglected  to  exe- 
cute these  laws  were  betrayers  of  the  liberties  of  the 
kingdom."*  Hard  and  desperate  times  those  for  all 
"  Jesuits  and  seminary  priests,"  who  feared  God  more 
than  death  or  transportation.! 

At  this  time,  the  wisdom  of  Providence  had  pfaced  in 
the  see  of  Armagh  a  most  prudent  and  able  man.  Dr. 
Hugh  McMahon,  Born  in  1660,  educated  at  Louvain, 
he  could  remember  the  martyrdom  of  at  least  two  of  his 
predecessors.  Nothing  dismayed,  he  assumed,  in  1708, 
their  perilous  place,  and  in  the  midst  of  its  many  duties, 
which  he  openly  or  secretly  continued  to  discharge,  he 
found  leisure  for  the  preparation  of  a  very  valuable 
work,  on  the  primacy  and  history  of  the  church  of  Ar- 
magh. He  lived  to  rejoice  in  the  first  faint  symptoms 
of  toleradon,  and  to  see  the  episcopal  body  gradually 
filling  up  around  him.|     He  died  in  1737. 

*  Irish  Commons  Journal,  vol.  iii.  p.  319. 

*■  ♦'  Tlioro  waa  not  left,"  says  Dr.  Burke,  in  his  History  of  the  Irish 
"Joio- ^:  .ans^,  "  a  single  house  of  that  order,  which  was  not  suppressed."  — 
Hib.  DoiU,  •:;>.  165. 

X  The  f -yi.  wing  striking  story  is  told  of  Primate  McMahon  :  "  The 

Irisa  witnesses  ?oon  sqxjand  red  the  money  Avhich  they  had  recei,od  for 

■vproving   and  swearing;   .way  the  late  primatd's  \\iO.     For  a  tirae   they 

managed  to  suppori  themfjelves  by  STvea.Mig  against  Shaftesbury  and  their 

old  employers.    But  even  this  fiuled  them,  and  they  were  quickly  brought 


P->*4,: 


188 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


'%■ 


1 


As  under  the  Stuarts  so  in  this  reign  and  the  next, 
the  faithful  laity  suffered  proportionably  to  the  clergy. 
The  few  members  of  the  Catholic  gentry  still  left  with 
any  vestige  of  property  were  obliged  to  resort  to  their ' 
own  unused  energies.  One  of  the  chief  of  these  was 
O'Ccaor,  of  Roscommon,  the  lineal  descendant  of 
Roderick,  the  last  of  the  Celtic  kings.  Holding  the 
plough  with  his  own  hands,  he  would  exhort  liis  sons 
against  pride,  telling  them  to  remember  that,  though  he 
"  was  the  son  of  a  gentleman,  they  were  the  sons  of  a 
ploughman."  The  heir  of  this  excellent  man  fortu- 
nately lived  to  occupy  another  position,  in  after  times, 
towards  his  countrymen. 

The  Catholic  townsmen,  who  followed  :any  trade  or 
craft,  felt  quite  as  bitterly  the  results  of  the  proscription. 
In  the  writings  of  Swift,  from  which  a  perfect  picture  of 
Irish  society  in  his  time  might  be  drawn,  we  find  them 
reported  to  be  "  altogether  as  in'^onsiderable  as  the  wo- 
men and  children."  "  The  common  people,  without 
leaders,  without  discipline,  or  natural  courage,  being  lit- 
tle better  than  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,  are 
out  of  all  capacity  of  doing  any  mischief,  if  they  were 
ever  so  well  inclined."  In  one  or  two  other  passages  of 
his  writings  we  find  enough  to  satisfy  us  that  Swiftwas 
fairly  disposed  towards   his   Catholic  countrymen,  but 


to  a  state  of  the  most  wretched  destitution.  Florence  McMoyer  fas  so  far 
reduced  that  he  was  ©bliged  to  pawn,  for  ftve  pounds,  the  cvilebrated 
♦  Book  of  Armagh,'  which  thus  passed  out  of  his  family,  where  it  had' 
remained  for  many  centuries.  Nor  was  this  the  worst  evil  against  which 
these  miserable  beings  had  to  contend;  for  they  were  now  universally 
abhorred  and  detested  even  by  their  former  abetters,  and  lived  in  daily 
terror  of  being  punished,  perhaps  hanged,  for  their  perjuries.  They  had 
now  no  friends,  for  they  had  been  equally  faithless  and  false  to  all  par- 
tics.  They  were,  moreover,  tormented  by  the  hell  of  a  guilty  conscience, 
for  the  crime  of  murder  was  upon  their  souls.  One  of  those  miscreants, 
Duffy,  old,  emaciated,  abhorred,  exiled  from  1  is  church,  and  tortured 
with  remorse,  visited  a  successor  of  Dr.  PlunkeLt,  (Dr.  McMahon,)  and  as 
he  approached  him,  exclaimed  in  an  agony  of  soul,  '  Am  I  never  to  have 
peace  ?  Is  there  no  mercy  for  me  ? '  The  prelate  heard  him  in  silence, 
then  opened  a  glass  case,  and  in  a  deep  and  solemn  voice  said,  '  Look 
here,  thou  unfortunate  wretch ! '  The  head  of  his  murdered  primate 
was  before  him  ;  he  saw,  knew  it,  and  swooned  away."  Thit.  misprable 
man  was  reconciled  to  the  cbiirch,  and  died  penitent. 


*m. 


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PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


189 


nextj 

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'e 

they  were  seemingly  so  powerless,  that  he  had  no  pros- 
pect of  doing  good  by  undertaking  their  cause.  He 
consequently  alludes  to  them,  but  cautiously  and  inci- 
dentally.* We  can  conceive  something  of  their  situa- 
tion in  towns  and  cities  from  two  petitions  sent  into 
the  Irish  Parliament  in  Anne's  reign.  One,  from  "  the 
Protestant  coal  porters  of  Dublin,"  complained  that 
Darby  Ryan,  "  a  captain  under  the  late  King  James, 
and  a  Papist  notoriously  disaifected,  bought  up  whole 
cargoes  of  coal,  and  employed  those  of  his  own  persua- 
sion and  affection  to  carry  the  same  to  customers." 
Another  petition  was  from  the  hackney  coachmen,  pray- 
ing "  that  it  might  be  enacted  that  none  but  Pro^stant 
hackney  coacbpi^en  might  have  liberty  to  keep  oir  drive 
hackney  coaches." f  How  these  "prayers"  must  have 
edified  the  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's ! 

So  low  had  the  once  high  spirit  of  that  people  fallen, 
that  these  indij^  cities  were  patiently  borne  by  the  majority. 
All  of  spirit,  who  could  do  so,  exiled  themselves.  Otht^rs, 
unable  to  emigrate,  and  unable  to  control  their  indigna- 
tion, suffered  sciverely  for  occasional  exhioitions  of  manly 
courage.  The  meanest  Protestant  regarded  himself  as  far 
above  the  noblest  Catholi  .  The  former  v-^re  known 
by  their  audacity  and  assurance  of  manner,  vhi^o.  in 
1730,  a  shrewd  observer  declares  that  a  Catholic  n  i^ht 
be  told  by  his  stooped  ct^rriage  and  subdued  myn- 
ner.:|:  We  hear,  without  surprise,  therefore,  that  the  Irish 
abroad  are  a  good  deal  disgusted  with  their  brethren  at 
home;  that  when,  in  1715,  "thf  old  pretender"  (James 
III.)  makes  a  desperate  effort  to  regain  the  triple  crown, 
of  the  islands,  no  help  for  him  issues  out  of  Ireland. 
He  has  Irishmen  in  his  army,  of  course,  but  they  come 
from  the  continent,  not  from  "home."  Th"v  do  their 
devoir  bravely,  according  to  the  custom  of  tL  i.v  country, 
at  Killiecrankxe,  and  some  of  them  lie  long  in  prison 


♦  In  Reasons  for  repealing  the  Test  in  Favor  of  Roman  Catholics,  in 
t),;    "n  Cries,  and  hie   ;.  orrespondence. 
t  viuoted  in  Captain  Rock,  p.  124. 
^  Lsdi^  and  Writings  of  Charles  O'Connor,  vol  i.  p.  179. 


.di^ 


■^^^^S^- 


190 


#" 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THR 


after  the  battle  of  Preston.  Conspicuous  among  thera  is 
Sir  Charles  Wogan,*  descended  of  thgt  dashing  Cava- 
lier who  cut  his  way  through  Puritan  England,  in  Crom- 
well's days,  and,  with  his  stout  two  hundred  horse, 
joinedlthe  friends  of  King  Cheirles  in  the  Scottish  High-  ^ 
lands. 

Perhaps  th«    inaiilxencc  of  the  Irish  at  home  to  the 
Stuart  cause,  in  1715,  helped  them  ;  in  1745,  it  certainly  , 
did.    M^hoi:^h   additional  penal   laws  continued  to  be  ^ 
passedptill  the  middle  of  the  centuiy,  it  is  certain  that 
the  actual  persecution  somew^hn^  -abated  after  the  acces- 
sion of  the  present  dynasly. 

Shall  we  venture  to  describe  the  effects  of  these  penal 
laws  of  Queen  Anne  ?  The  most  eloquent  Catholic  of 
thir  century  declared  that  language  failed  him  in  the 
atte  ..j)t,  and,  in  the  poverty  of  language,  he  bor-  " 
rowod  Edmund  Burke's  striking  description :  "  It  was  ^^ 
a  machine  of  wise  and  elaborate  contrivance,  and  as 
well  fitted  for  the  oppression,  impoverishment,  and  deg- 
radation of  a  people,  and  the  debasement  in  them  of 
human  nature  itself,  as  ever  proceeded  from  the  per- 
verted ingenuity  of  man."  4ip-      *iMr 


*  Sir  Charles  was  a  worthy  descendant  of  that  famous  Cavalier  men- 
tioned in  the  text-  He  won  his  knightly  rank  firom  the  hands  of  the 
pope,  by  rescuing,  alone  and  unhelped,  the  Princess  Sobieskiy,  betrothed 
to  "  the  old  pretender,"  from  the  fortress  of  Innspruck,  in  the  Tyi'ol, 
and  conveying  her  safe  to  Rome.  After  his  English  imprisonment,  he 
had  command  of  a  regiment  in  Spain,  from  Vhich  he  S6nt  Swift  a 
present  of  pure  wine,  accompanied  by  a  Latin  poem,  and  one  of  the  no- 
blest pieces  of  English  prose  in  the  1  nguage.  In  this  letter,  Wogam 
says  of  his  fellow  reiugees,  "They  have  shown  a  great  deal  of  gallantry 
in  the  defence  of  foreign  states  and  princes,  with  very  little  advantage  to 
themselves  but  that  of  being  free,  and  without  half  the  outward  m'jks 
of  distinction  they  deserved.  These  sorthem  governments  are  very  slow 
in  advancing  foreigners  to  considerable  or  gainful  perfennents."  —  >••  Ros- 
coe's  Edition  of  Swift's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  667."  The  entire  letter  h  worthy 
of  repeated  readings. 

■'      m      ■ . 
--  •  '1-     -ti 

s.. 


1--  'rf 


» 


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.^^ 


"„"^^^** 


ii^..SfeffiiSiTiiiBitaij|iiitaiiiii«i 


M>MM 


PROTESTANT    rv.pORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


191 


CHAPTER  V. 


IBTSH  CATHOLirs  ABROAD. -IRISH  COLLEGES  AT  LOUVAIN,  PARIS, 
A,     ROME,  LISBON,  &o.  — IRISH  SOLDIERS  IN  FOREIGN  SERVICE.  — TUB 
IRISH  BRIGADE  IN  FRANCE.  — now  THEIR  llEPUTATION  REACTED 
ON  ENGLAND. 

r- 

In  this  desperate  struggle  for  the  maintenancf  of  reli- 
gion in  Ireland,  she  had  numerous  auxiliaries  ii|,the  col- 
leges founded  for  the  education  of  her  studentif  on  the 
continent.  Of  these  and  their  founders  some  Recount 
is  called  for. 

^  The  native  Irish  schools  had  never  fully  recovered 
from  the  effects  pf  the  Danish  wars.  The  revival  of  Irish 
education  by  St.  Malachy  was  extinguished  uti^l^  the 
Norman  invasion,  and  the  greater  foreign  institiittions 
founded  at  Paris,  Salamanca,  and  Rome  becanaft  the 
favorite  resorts  of  Irish  scholars  during  the  middle  ages. 
When  England  adopted  a  new  faith,  and  her  rulers  be- 
gan to  wage  their  deadly  warfare  against  Catholic  educa- 
tion, what  had  been  before  the  choice  of  the  islanders 
became  then  their  necessity. 

From  its  situation  and  renown,  the  University  of  Lou- 
vain,  founded  by  John,  Duke  of  Brabant,  in  1425,  was 
much  frequented  by  the  Irish,  even  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
I'eter  Lombard,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  (King 
James's  special  friend,)  and  O' Hurley,  the  martyred  Arch- 
bishop of  Cashel,  graduated  there,  with  high  honor.  In 
conjunction  with  this  university,  Florence  Conroy,  Arch- 
bishop of  Tuam,  ("who,  for  various  rfo'tons,  would  not 
be  safe  among  the  English,"  says  his  frieinl  O' Sullivan,) 
founded  the  Irish  CoUege  of  St.  AntUot  y,  A.  D.  1617. 
The  funds  for  this  purpose  were  generously  supplied  by 
the  viceroys,  Albert  and  Isabella,  then  governing  at 
Brussels.  I)r.  Conroy  caused  an  Irish  press  to  be  erect- 
ed, from  which,  for  more  than  a  century,  the  greater  part 
of  the  catechisms  and  manuals  used  in  Ireland  were 
secretly  obtained.  Here  the  learned  founder  prepared 
his  Commentaries  on   St.   Augustin,   and  here    Ward, 


*_..-Sf^J^^  .._,;. 


192 


ATTEMPTS    TO    KSTABLiail    TH^ 


Colgan,  and  O'Clery  prepared  their  Acts  Oi  d^^  Irish 
Saints,  and  arranged  the  Annala  of  the  Four  Masters. 
Conroy  died  in  1629.  A  tablet,  still  legible,  commemo- 
rates his  name  amid  the  ruins  of  St.  Anthony's  'College. 

In  1624,  Matthew,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  aided  by 
Pope  Urban  VIII.,  founded,  also,  in  conjunction  with  this 
university,  the  Collegium  Pastorale  Hibemorum,  for  sec- 
ulars only.  Dr.  Nicholas  Aylmer  was  the  first  president. 
With  its  after  history  are  associated  the  honorable 
names  of  Stapleton,  French,  Arsdekin,  and  Peter  Walsh, 
all  eraijient  scholars  and  constant  Catholics. 

In  1659,  Dr.  Gregory,  and  two  brothers  named  Joyce, 
founded  the  Irish  Dominican  college  at  liouvain,  under 
the  invocation  of  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin*.  The  fathers 
O' Sullivan,  O'Daly,  and  Burke  are  among  the  first  doc- 
tors of  this  school. 

Like  all  other  institutions  in  the 'Netherlands  —  that 
common  battle  field  of  Europe  —  these  Irish  colleges  un- 
derwent various  vicissitudes.  When,  in  1633,  the  Dutch, 
with  sixty  thousand  men,  besieged  Louvain,  the  Irish 
students  shared  in  all  the  dangers  of  the  defence.  They 
formed  a  regiment  of  their  own  number,  and  under 
Preston,  the  confederate,  "  distinguished  themselves  for 
deeds  of  valor  and  renown."  In  that  stirring  siege,  cas- 
sock and  shako  were  strangely  blended;  the  Jesuits 
formed  a  corps  of  pioneers,  and  constructed  or  attacked 
works  with  all  the  coolness  of  veterans ;  the  Walloon 
regiments  acted  with  proverbial  courage,  and  Louvain 
was  saved  from  its  powerful  assailants. 

As  an  evidence  of  how  Irish  piety,  even  in  the  worst 
of  times,  devoted  itself  to  the  service  of  God,  we  give 
an  abstract  of  the  endowments  received  by  the  Irish 
Pastoral  College,  during  the  two  centuries  of  its  exist- 
ence :  — 

"  Matthew,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  in  1624  founded  a 
"  bourse  of  2000  florins,  which  produced  a  yearly  reve- 
"  nue  of  48  florins,  for  natives  of  his  diocese,  being  stu- 
"  dents  in  theology  and  philosophy ;  the  collation  was 
"  in  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin ;  Edward  Purcell  was  in 
"  the  enjoyment  of  this  from  1784  up  to  the  time  of  the 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


193 


"  visitation.  The  archbishop  founded  a  second  bourse 
"  of  2871  florins,  the  same  year,  producing  about  100 
"  florins  yearly  for  his  next  of  kin  in  the  first  instance, 
**  and  secondly  for  natives  of  the  diocese  of  Clogher. 
"  Charles  McKenna  held  this  since  1780.  The  presen- 
"  tation  was  in  the  gift  of  the  Binhop  of  Clogher. 

"  James  Normel,  in  1653,  granted  993  florins  for  stu- 
"  dents  in  philosophy,  theology,  humanity,  law,  and  med- 
"  icine.  The  visitors  and  president  of  the  college  had 
"  the  presentation ;  and  the  grant  was  to  be  held  by  the 
"  founders  next  of  kin  in  the  first  instance,  and  then  a 
"  preference,  in  the  following  order,  was  to  be  given  to 
"  natives  of  Clonmel,  Lismore,  Munster,  and  Ireland. 
"  Edward  Cantillon  enjoyed  this  since  1784. 

"  Hugh  Mauricy,  in  1680,  granted  2373  florins  for  stu- 

^  dents  in  the  same  departments  as  the  last,  and  in  the 

'  gift  of  the  same  persons ;  to  be  enjoyed  by  his  next  of 

"  kin  in  the  first  instance,  and  then,  in  default,  by  natives 

"  of  Galway,Connaught,  Ireland,  and  lastly,  Buygenhout, 

"  in  Flanders.     Patrick  Rouland  enjoyed  this  since  1784. 

"  Roger  Nottingham,  in  1692,  grantexl  1000  florins  for 
"  the  same  studies  as  last,  excepting  humanity  and  l^w ; 
''  and  this  was  also  in  the  gift  of  the  same  persons,  with 
"  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  to  bv  enjoyed  by  his  next 
"  of  kin  to  the  fourth  degree ;  then  by  natives  of  Dublin, 
"  Leinster,  and  the  parish  of  St.  Nicholas  at  Ghent. 
«  Charles  Finn  held  this  since  1783. 

«  Matthew  Theige,  in  1652,  gave  5702  florins  for  ;  ti^ 
"  dents  in  philosophy  and  theology,  to  be  presented  *  v 
"  the  visitors  and  president,  to  be  held  by  the  kindred  of 
"  the  founder,  then  by  natives  of  Limerick,  or,  in  default, 
"  by  natives  of  Ireland.  Held  by  Patrick  Cleary  and 
"  Edward  Cantillon  since  1780  and  1784. 

"  Nicholas  French,  in  1683,  granted  600  florins  for  stu- 
"  dents  in  rhetoric,  philosophy,  and  theology.  The  pres- 
"  entation  was  in  the  Bishop  of  Ferns  and  the  president 
"  of  the  college ;  his  next  of  kin  had  the  preference,  then 
"  natives  of  the  diocese  of  Ferns,  and,  in  default,  natives 
"  of  Ireland.     E.  Ennis  enjoyed  it  since  1781. 

"Thomas  Hurley,  in  1697,  granted  3200  florins  for 


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students  in  philosophy,  theology,  humanity,  law,  and 
medicine.  The  presentation  was  in  the  president  and 
visitors  of  the  college,  to  be  held  first  by  his  next  of 
kin,  then  natives  of  Limerick,'*Tipperary,  Munster,  and 
in  default,  the  natives  of  Ireland.  Hdd  by  Thomas 
Hurley  since  1763. 

«  Arnold  ConoUy,  in  1715,  granted  2383  florins  for 
students  in  philosophy  and  theology,  the  presentation 
being  in  the  president  of  the  college,  and  to  be  held 
first  by  the  next  of  kin  of  the  founder,  and  then  by  na- 
tives of  the  diocese  of  Clogher,  held  by  Charles  Mc- 
Kenna  since  I'XSO. 

"  Paul  Roche,  P.  P.  of  Wexford,  as  the  executor  of 
his  uncle,  David  Roche,  P.  P.  of  Forth,  in  1727,  granted 
6008  florins  for  students  in  humanity,  philosophy,  the- 
ology, and  the  arts,  to  be  enjoyed  by  his  next  of  kin, 
to  the  third  degree,  and  then  in  order,  by  natives  of 
the  barony  of  Forth,  Wexford,  and  diocese  of  Ferns. 
The  presentation  was  ir;  the  president  of  the  college, 
and  P.  P.  of  Wexford,  provided  he  was  a  native  of 
Wexford ;  and  in  case  he  was  not,  then,  in  his  place, 
the  oldest  curate  in  the  barony  of  Forth,  with  two  cit- 
izens of  Wexford.  Charles  O'Brien  and  Matthtjw 
Cood  held  this  since  1783. 

••*  Raymond  Magrath,  M.  D.,  in  exercitu  ccesari  sucb 
majestatiSf  in  1780,  granted  9402  florins  for  students  in 
humanity,  philosophy,  theology,  and  medicine,  to  be 
enjoyed  hj  the  next  of  kin  of  the  founder.  J.  Maccabe 
and  H.  Maccabe  enjoyed  this  from  1775  and  1779,  re- 
spectively. 

"  Edmond  Trohy,  merchant  of  Antwerp,  in  1783, 
granted  4585  florins  for  students  in  humanity,  and  all 
other  studies.  The  visitors  and  president  of  the  col- 
lege were  the  presenters ;  and  next  of  kin,  and  in  de- 
fault, natives  of  Tipperary  were  to  be  elected.  Vv-^il- 
liam  Britt  enjoyed  this  since  1782. 

"^  Helen  Duignan,  in  1770,  granted  7848  florins  for 
students  in  poetry,  rhetoric,  philosophy,  medicine,  the- 
ology, and  public  disputation.  The  presentation  was 
in  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  the  Bishop  of  Waterford, 


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*      PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


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the  parish  priest  of  Clonmel,  Mr.  McCarthy,  and  the" 
oldest  heir  male  of  the  founder.  J.  Dogherty  and 
Daniel  McCarthy  enjoyed  this  since  1777  and  1784, 
respectively. 

"  Thon?as  Tyrrell,  in  1771,  granted  4800  florins  for 
students  in  rhetoric,  philosophy,  theology,  and  public 
disputation.  The  presentation  was  to  be  in  the  next 
of  kin ;  this  individual  was,  in  1785,  G.  F.  Brown ; 
the  privileged  persons  were  the  n^xt  of  kin  to  the  sixth 
degree,  and,  in  default,  natives  of  Westmeath  or  Ire- 
land.    Patrick  Clinch  held  this  since  1783. 

"  Colomba  Morgan,  a  citizen  of  Dublin,  in  1777, 
granted  7044  florins  for  students  in  philosophy  and 
theology ;  and  also  for  two  priests,  natives  of  Dublin, 
with  an  obligation  to  say  one  mass  daily  for  the  founder. 
The  presentation  was  in  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin. 
Patrick  Ryan  and  Edward  Purcell  enjoyed  this  since 
1781. 

«  J.  Kent,  in  1781,  granted  7007  florins  for  students  in 
all  departments,  to  be  held  by  his  kindred  to  the  fourth 
degree,  and  then  by  natives  of  Lismore  and  Water- 
ford.  The  presentation  was  in  the  Archbishop  of 
"Waterford  and  the  visitors  and  president  of  th»  (Col- 
lege.    Matthew  Power  enjoyed  this  since  1784. 

u O'Brien,  in  1769,  granted  217  florins  for  Irish 

students  in  philosophy  and  theology ;  and  225  florins  to 
an  Irish  priest  to  say  mass  daily  in  the  college  chapel. 
The  Bishop  of  Cloyne  and  president  of  the  college 
were  the  presenters.  PatrMik  Ryan  and  Philip  Daniel 
McCarthy  held  this  since  1782  and  1784,  respectivelv. 

«  T.  Sullivan,  ih  1699,  granted  732  florins  for  Irish 
students  in  rhetoric,  philosophy,  and  theology,  for  his 
relations  of  the  second  degree,  provided  they  were  born 
in  Ireland.  The  presentation  was  in  two  doctors  of 
theology,  chosen  by  the  rector  in  '^strict  faculty."  John 
Fitzgerald  and  M.  Sullivan  enjoyed  this  since  1780,  M. 
Sullivan  since  1782,  and  Daniel  Magrath  since  1784. 

«  Florence  Sullivan,  in  1732,  granted  1098  florins  for 
students  "n  philosophy,  theology,  law,  and  medicine,  a 
preference  to  be  given  his  kindred  to  the  third  degree. 


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196  .r  ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 

•  « then  to  the  0»SiilUvafis  of  Kerry,  the  SicCaxthys  of 
"  Kerry,  or  natives  of  Kerry,  Cashel,  or  Ulster.  The 
**  eldest  doctor  in  theology,  the  president  of  the  college, 
"  and  the  eldest  visitor  were  the  presenters. 

"  Independent  of  the  above  grant,  the  college  was  en- 
«  dowed  by  Urban  VIII.,  by  a  M.  Shinkel,  and  by  Mat- 
**thew  Prosser,  a  merchant  of  Bruges,  and  native  of 
"  Waterford,  with  sums  making  altogether  about  8000 
"  florins,  besides  the  bequest  of  Thomas  Stapleton, 
"  which  provided  for  seven  students  in  various  depart- 
"  ments,  and  to  which  we  have  already  alluded." 

Here  we  find  the  exiled  merchant's  profits  and  the  ex- 
iled soldier's  stipend,  the  widow's  mite,  and  the  bishop's 
and  professor's  income,  all  devoted  to  the  maintenance 
of  {he  only  schools  open  to  the  Irish  race ! 

But  Louvain  was  not  alone  "  a  city  of  refuge  "  to  our 
fathers.  At  Paris,  Thomas  Fleming  obtained  the  foun- 
dation of  an"  Irish  college,  which  still  exists.  It  was 
endowed  by  the  Bourbons,  confiscated  at  the  period  of 
the  revolution,  but  restored  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte  to 
the  Irish  church.  Here  King  James  deposited  the  Irish 
manuscripts  in  his  possession,  and  here,  in  1730,  the 
Abbe  McGeoghehan  pondered  over  their  contents,  when 
preparing  that  laborious  and  conscientious  history  of 
his  country,  worthy  of  being  dedicated  to  the  heroic 
"  brigade." 

In  Lisle,  Douay,  Bourdeaux,  Rouen,  and  St.  Omer's, 
there  were  also  Irish  colleges.  O'Connell  graduated  at 
the  latter. 

At  Antwerp,  in  1629,  the  Irish  College  of  St.  Patrick 
was  founded  by  Dr.  Seagrave,  a  native  of  Leinster.  It 
was  burned  in  1680,  but  rebuilt  by  Pope  Innocent  XL 
and  the  Propaganda.  Seagrave  was  the  first,  and  Dr. 
Jacob  Talbot  the  second  president. 

At  Salamanca  and  Alcala,  there  were  either  bourses 

or  entire  houses  for  Irish  students.      At  Seville,  there 

was  an  Irish  college,  of  which,  in  1640,  Dr.  Dominick 

Lynch,  afterwards  Recteur  Magnifique  of  the  University 

-    of  SevUle,  was  president. 

.    At  Coimbra,  there  were  Lrish  bourses.     Luke  Wad- 


■^ 


,-  .•r4?SHiiW*:i':-'.- 


,-■/.       r. 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN   IRELAND. 


197 


ding,  Bonaventara  Baron,  Primate  Curtis,  and  Dr.  Doyle 
were  educated  there.  In  Lisbon,  Dominick  O'Daly,  a 
native  of  Kerry,  procured  the  founding  of  an  Irish  col- 
lege by  the  last  Spanish  viceroy,  the  Duchess  of  Mantua. 
After  the  revolution  of  1640,  which  placed  the  family  of 
Biaganza  on  the  throne  of  Portugal,  O'Daly  rose  rapidly. 
He  was  successively  confessor  to  the  queen,  inquisitoii 
general,  and  ambassador  to  France.  He  declined  the  thpn'^ 
rich  Indian  archbishopric  of  Goa,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  (1662)  was  Bishop  elect  of  Coimbra  —  the  pri- 
matial  see  of  Portugal.  He  not  only  founded  the 
Lisbon  College,  but  also  a  convent  for  Irish  nuns  in  the 
same  city,  and  a  house  for  Irish  students  at  Coimbra, 
His  two  works  (the  "  Geraldines "  and  the  "  Persecu- 
tions ")  have  been  frequently  quoted,  in  the  first  part  of 
this  history. 

At  Prague,  there  were  Irish  bourses,  and  we  have  seen 
mention  of  an  "  Irish  college  "  —  we  are  not  informed 
as  to  its  history.  Attached  to  other  Austrian  colleges 
were  several  Irish  bourses. 

At  Rome,  one  of  the  greatest  Irishmen  of  his  day, 
Father  Luke  Wadding,  founded  for  Irish  Franciscans 
the  College  of  St.  Isidore,  in  1625 ;  *  in  which  good 
work  he  was  much  assisted  by  the  noble  family  of  Bar- 
berini.  In  1628,  he  induced  Cardinal  Ludovisius,  ''  the 
protector,  of  Ireland,"  to  found  a  secular  Irish  college, 
which  is  distinguished  from  the  other  by  the  name  of  its 
noble  founder.  Wadding  was  tvvdce  president.  Hickey, 
Finming,  Walsh,  and  Baron,  all  distinguished  scholars^ 
were  among  the  earliest  piofessors  at  St.  Isidore's. 
Wadding,  who,  for  nearly  forty  years,  was  the  volun- 
tary ambassador  of  Ireland  at  Rome,  and  yet  so  hus- 
banded his  time  as  to  be  able  to  bring  out  the  numerous 
works  which  bear  his  name,  as  editor  or  a,uthor,  is  buried 
in  his  own  foundation,  where  his  tomb  is  still  preserved, 
by  the  fathers  of  St.  Isidore.f  < 

*  Father  Wadding  was  nephew  to  Peter  Lombard,  Archbishop  of 
Armagh.  He  was  born  at  Waterford,  in  1588,  and  died  at  Rome,  in 
1657.  There  is  a  sketch  of  his  edilying  life,  in  McGee's  Irish  Writers. 
Dublin,  1846. 

t  Wad(Ung  is  the  author  of  the  great  work,  the  Annals  of  the  Friars 

■«^^    •       '  -     _       17  * 


3:1 


-V—     ' 


198  ^i      ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE      Wf|* 

The  Ludovisiaa  Irish  College  was  famous  for  the 
students  it  sent  forth,  throughout  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. Oliver  Plunkett  was  of  the  number.  This  college 
was  administered  by  the  order  of  Jesuits — those  illus- 
trious victors  and  martyrs  of  Christianity.  ^* 

The  effect  of  these  active  and  numerous  Irish  institu- 
tions throughout  Catholic  Europe  must  have  been  con- 
siderable, not  only  in  the  cities  where  they  stood,  but 
on  the  general  tone  and  turn  of  continental  opinion. 
Every  college  had  its  concursus,  ii  s  Irish  celebrations,  its 
printing  press,  and  its  atmosphere  of  sympathy.  All 
literature  and  all  statesmanship  were  cognizant  of  the 
fact,*  and  agreed  upon  the  cause  —  the  merciless  English 
persecutions.  Until  the  wars  that  followed  the  French 
revolution,  it  was  impossible  for  England  to  keep  or 
make  partisans  at  Rome,  Lisbon,  Madrid,  Vienna,  or 
Paris.  Her  generals  and  diplomatists  complain  bitterly 
that  the  very  courts  they  succored  and  served  had  no 
real  respect  for  them  or  their  kingdom.  The  fact  «eems 
to  have  been,  that  the  Irish  colleges,  with  their  numerous 
preachers  and  writers,  had  created,  in  every  Catholic 
country,  a  hearty  detestation  of  the  intolerance  and  per- 
fidy of  English  governments.  It  is  among  the  strange 
signs  of  our  providential  history  that,  just  as  the  French 
philosophy  and  revolution  had  spread  abroad,  Irish  col- 
leges were  suffered  to  be  restored  at  home.  Under  this 
last  Gothic  storm,  not  yet  appeased,  the  Irish  in  Ireland 
have  turned  earnestly  to  the  erection  of  native  insti- 
tutions of  education,  which,  for  fifty  years  back,  have 
not  been  openly  proscribed.  *-s?t. 

The  old  colleges  of  the  penal  times  deserve  our  per- 
petual gratitude  and  remembrance.      Those  of  Rome, 

Minors,  which  took  him  above  twenty  years  to  compile.  He  also  wrote 
the  Writers  of  the  Order  of  Friars  Minors  ;  a  Life  of  Anselm,  Bishop 
of  Lucca ;  a  Life  of  Thomaaius,  Patriarch  of  Alexandria ;  a  Life  of 
John  Duns  Scotus,  &c.,  &c.  He  was  one  of  the  theologians  appointol 
to  examine  the  tenets  of  Janseniu»«,  at  Rome,  a  .d  to  maintain,  bolbre  the 
congregation,  the  immaculate  conception.  In  IGl.;,  lie  dcolined  the  car- 
dinalatc.     •'  Fra  Lu')a  "  is  noc  forgotten  in  Italian  biographies. 

*  Le  Sage  and  Goldsmith  both  make  striking  i.ae  of  iliitt  once  com- 
mon character  on  the  continent  — the  Irish  .siiident.  ^c 


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■-r^-^*'-      \, 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 

Louvain,  Lisbon^  Salamanca,  Prague,  and  Paris,*  were 
particularly  instrumental  in  keeping  faith  and  learn-, 
ing  alive  among  our  race,  and  in  sending  into  Ire- 
land chiefs,  counsellors,  and  true  civilizers.  They  coun- 
teracted the  barbarous  effects  of  the  penal  code.  If  it 
had  not  been  for  them,  Ireland,  in  all  probability,  would 
have  been  driven  into  worse  than  Tartar  darkness  and 
savagery. 

Contemporaneous  with  the  Irish  colleges  were  those 
memorable  brigades  and  regiments  of  Catholic  exiles 
whose  courage  and  fidelity  have  done  so  much  to  honor 
the  national  character.  Their  serving  only  Catholic 
states  made  Ireland  an  active  agent  in  almost  everyi 
action  of  that  great  contest  which  was  the  necessary 
consequence  of  the  continental  "reformation."  From 
the  time  of  Luther  till  the  time  of  Robespierre,  Europe 
divided  naturally  into  a  Protestant  and  a  Catholic  camp. 
Sweden,  Holland,  England,  and  Prussia  are  on  the  one 
side ;  Austria,  Spain,  and  the  Italian  states  on  the  other, 
France  and  Bavaria,  from  motives  of  position  and  policy, 
sometimes  cooperated  with  one,  sometimes  with  the 
other,  and  sometimes  formed  a  third  party.  Protestant- 
ism, i  1  the  words  of  Burke,  "  introduced  other  interests 
into  all  countries  than  those  which  arose  fi-om  their 
locality  and  natural  circumstances."  The  same  profound 
observer  adds,  "  It  would  be  to  repeat  the  history  of  the 
two  last  centuries,  to  exemplify  the  effects  of  this  revolu- 
tion." f  It  does  not  surprise  us,  who  regard  Ireland  as 
representing  the  church  militant,  to  count  the  large  num- 
ber of  men  and  captains  she  supplied  to  the  Catholic 
gide  of  the  European  contest  between  "the  reformation" 
in  the  sixteenth,  and  "  the  revolution  "  in  the  eighteenth 
century. 

After  the  battle  of  Kinsale,   O' Sullivan    Beare,  and 
those  excepted  from  James's  amnesty,  entered  the  Span- 


*;t 


*  The  Irish  colleges  at  Rome,  Lisbon,  and  Peris  are  still  devoted  to 
their  original  purpose.  At  present,  (1852,)  Dr.  Kirby  is  president  at 
Home,  Dr.  Gartland  at  Lisbon,  and  Dr.  Miley  at  Paris.  The  present 
primate  of  Ireland  (Dr.  CuUen)  was  Dr.  Kirby'a  predecessor  at  Rome. 

t  Thoughts  on  French  Affairs,  in  December,  1791. 


-^  •^' '■■j>m{^m-^ 


A^^:^.  ? 


•'**• 


'•■If 


% 


200 


% 


ATTEMPTS    TO    £STABL.iaH    THE 


ish  service,  and  some  rose  to.  high  rank  in  naval  and 
itary  expeditions.  O' Sullivan  commanded  a  ship  in 
Philip  it's  expedition  against  the  Turks,  and  in  one 
engagement  had  a  brother  shot  at  his  side.  From  the 
specimen  Spain  then  had,  her  rulers  became  anxious  to 
enlist  more.  From  Ulster,  after  the  exile  of  the  O' Neils 
and  O'Donnells,  she  obtained  whole  regiments,  and  a^v^h 
captains  as  the  O'Donnells  and  O'Reillys ;  from  Galway 
she  obtained,  later,  many  recruits,  among  whom  certain 
Blakes  and  O'Connors  rose  to  eminence.  They  served 
valiantly  against  the  Dutch,  the  Turks,  and  the  English, 
throughout  that  century.  In  Spain  and  South  America 
their  descendants  kept  the  vantage  giound,  and  did 
truly  and  valiantly.*  In  the  last  century,  Spain  contin-^ 
ued  to  recruit  in  Ireland.  In  1708,  she  embodied  two 
Irish  regiments  of  dragoons  and  three  of  foov  In  the 
defence  of  Oran,  in  1732,  and  the  Italian  campaigns  of 
the  two  next  years,  these  regiments  won  honor.  In  1743, 
in  the  battle  of  Velletri,  between  Spain  and  Austria, 
there  were  Irish  soldiers  on  both  sides.  Austria  tri- 
umphed, but  the  Irish  soldiers  of  Spain  protected  the 
retreat,  and  rescued  the  infant,  Don  Philip.  Lacy,  Law- 
less, O'Reilly,  and  Wogan,  their  best  officers,  were  made 
grandees  of  Spain  after  these  campaigns.  Lawless,  by 
the  arrest  of  the  Duke  de  Medini  Cell,  was  said  to  have 
saved  the  monarchy.  He  was  afterwards  governor  of 
Majorca.  Lacy  was  sent  ambassador  to  Petersburg, 
where  he  found  a  relative  high  in  favor.  This  was  Field 
Marshal  Lacy,  the  conqueror  of  the  Tartars  and  of 
Sweden,  by  whose  prudent  generalship  Charles  XII.  was 
routed  at  Pultowa,  in  1709.t  us  i^my  : 

II  Another  branch  of  this  notable  house  gave,  in  the  same 
age,  two  generals  and  aulic  councillors  to  Austria. 
Austria,  before  and  after  the  separation  from  Spain,  was 
long  partial  to  Irish  soldiers.  The  Brownes,  of  Camas, 
in  Limerick,  exiled  for  their  faith,  gave  a  field  marshal, 

♦  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  allude  to  the  Generals  O'Donnell,  Blake, 
and  Sarsfield,  of  the  Peninsular  war  ;  or  to  O'Donju,  Viceroy  of  Mexico, 
O'Higgins,  Captain  General  of  Chili,  or  O'Donnell,  Captain  General  of 
Cuba. 

t  Manstein's  Memoirs. 


Ol 


> 


-"..■^f  . 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


201 


two  generals,  and  other  distinguished  officers,  to  that 
empire.  One  of  these  generals  was  made  a  baron,  and 
governor  of  Deva,  in  Transylvania  ;  the  other,  married  to 
the  daughter  of  Field  Marshal  Lacy,  was  naturalized  in 
Russia,  and  made  governor  of  Livonia. 

Field  Marshal  Ulysses  Browne  had  the  good  fortune  to 
beat  the  King  of  Prussia  and  to  liberate  the  King  of 
Poland.  He  died  in  1757,  much  mourned  by  Maria 
Theresa.  Another  field  marshal  of  the  same  name  and 
family  died  at  Vienna,  in  1784. 

The  Carlow  family  of  Kovanagh  gave  five  general 
officers  to  Austria.  In  1766,  Charles  Kavanagh  was 
governor  of  Prague  and  count  of  the  empire;  about 
the  same  time,  Charles,  his  cousin,  held  the  rank  of  gen- 
eral and  count ;  John  Baptist  Kavanagh  was  a  general 
and  aulio  councillor.  Sir  James  Kavanagh  and  Baron 
Henry  Kavanagh  were  distinguished  in  the  Austro- 
French  war. 

;  The  Methian  family  of  Nugent  has  been  naturalized  in 
Austria  since  the  seventeenth  century ;  has  given  -two 
field  marshals  and  several  aulic  councillors,  ambassadors, 
and  generals  to  the  imperial  service.  In  the  "  thirty  years' 
war,"  the  names  of  O'Dwyer,  Butler,  and  Maguire  fre- 
quently occur.  On  the  Austrian  army  list,  a  few  years 
ago,  there  were  twenty-five  eminent  officers  of  Irish 
descent.     .^^  ft%/ 

The  other  Catholic  German  power,  Bavaria,  following 
the  example  of  the  rest,  sought  to  strengthen  itself  with 
Irish  arms.  Baron  Harrold,  a  native  of  Limerick,  and 
colonel  in  that  service,  was  chamberlain  to  the  king  in 
1780. 

The  King  of  Naples,  also,  had  his  Irish  guards,  of 
whom  Sir  Balthazar  O'Neil  was  colonel,  towards  the 
close  of  the  last  century.  The  guard  was  composed  of 
what  was  formerly  called  the  regiment  of  Limerick. 
At  Velettri  they  rescued  the  king's  person  from  the  Aus- 
trian army. 

Poor  Poland,  also,  had  its  Irish  soldiers.  Field  Mar- 
shal Maurice  Kavanagh  dpvoted  his  life  to  defend  that 
nationality  against  the  infamous  partitionists.        h    4 , , 


■* 


» 
>^»^^ 


uS*!* 


* 


202 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


But  the  most  celebrated  Irish  captains  are  those  who 
served  under  the  lilies  of  France.  An  Irish  company  of 
horse  served,  in  l6o2,  un'^er  Turenne,  against  the  great 
Cond6.  In  the  campaigns  of  1673,  1674,  and  1675, 
under  Tureime,  two  or  three  Irish  regiments  were  in  every 
engagement  along  the  Rhone.  At  Altenheim,  their  com- 
mander, Count  Hamilton,  was  created  a  major  general 
of  France. 

In  1690,  the  old  regiments,  with  the  six  new  ones 
sent  over  by  James,  w-io  formed  into  a  brigade,  and 
in  1690,  1691,  1692,  and  1693,  they  went  through  the 
campaigns  of  Savoy  and  Italy,  under  Catinat,  and 
against  Prince  Eugene.  Justin  McCarthy,  Lord  Mount- 
cashel,  who  commanded  them,  died  at  Bareges  of 
wounds  received  at  Straffardo.  At  Marsiglia,  they  routed, 
in  1693,  the  allies,  killing  Duke  Schomberg,  son  to  the 
Huguenot  general  who  fell  at  the  Boyne. 

The  "new"  brigade  was  employed  under  Luxem- 
burg, and  against  King  William,  in  Flanders,  in  1692 
and  1693.  At  Namur  and  Enghien,  they  were  superb. 
Sarsfield,  their  brigadier,  on  the  latter  day  was  made 
mareschal-de-camp.  At  Landen,  on  the  29th  of  July, 
1693,  France  again  triumphed,  and,  with  the  cry,  "  Re- 
member Limerick  and  British  faith,"  Sarsfield  pursued 
the  route  of  the  treaty-breakers.  A  ball  reached  him  in 
that  proud  hour,  and  he  fell  mortally  wounded.  Pressing 
his  hand  upon  the  wound,  he  took  it  away  dripping  with 
blood,  and  only  said,  "  O  that  this  was  for  Ireland ! " 
So  died  one  of  the  most  devoted  soldiers  of  the  cross 
and  of  Irish  nationality  —  a  worthy  grandson  of  Rory 
O' Moore. 
'  The  two  brigades  in  the  same  war  lost  their  chiefs, 
and  were  decimated  by  their  many  desperate  charges. 
In  1695,  all  the  remaining  veterans  were  organized  into 
twelve  complete  regiments,  four  of  horse  and  eight  of 
infantry,  under  the  descendants   of  their  first  officers.* 

*  The  king's  regiment  of  cavalry  :  —  Dominick  Sheldon,  colonel ;  Ed- 
mond  Prendergast,  lieutenant  colonel ;  Edmond  Butler,  mc^or ;  4  cap- 
tains, 6  lieutenants,  6  comets. 

The  queen's  regiment  of  cavtdry  :  —  Lord  Galmoy,  colonel ;  Ren6  de 


g 

a] 

cJ 
d 


t 


^^ 


,^,fr:A5fei'.L..»: 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


203 


Till  the  revolution,  in  1791  they  took  part  in  every  war 
in  which  France  was  engaged.  From  1691  "  to  the 
year  1745,  after  the  battle  of  Fontenoy,  above  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  (450,000 ! )  Irishmen  lost  their 
lives  in  the  ser^^ce  of  France.''  * 

Many  of  thi*  officers  of  tae  brigade  founded  distin- 
guishes' families  in  France,  still  represented  in  the  politics 
and  the  campaigns  of  that  brave  nation.  O'Brien  was 
created  mareschal  of  France  and  commander  of  Langue- 
doc ;  McMahon,  a  marquis,  and  knight  of  St.  Louis ; 
Dillon  was  created  a  ^'ifconnt  — the  same  rank  as 
Turenne's ;  Lally  was  made  governor  of  Pondicherry ; 
Roche  (who  passed  into  the  service  of  Sardinia)  viscount 
of  Fermoy  ;  and  so  wHh  iiany  others. 

Frcach  recruiting  lor  the  brigade  was  carried  on  sy* 


AJ 


Carnc,  a  Frenchman,  lieutenant  colonel ;  James  Tobin,  major ;  4  captains^ 
6  lieutenants,  6  cornets. 

The  king's  regiment  of  dragoons:  —  Lord  Viscount  Kilmallock,  (Sars- 
field,)  colonel;  Turenne  O' Carroll,  lieutenant  colonel ;  De  Salles,  a 
Frenchman,  major  ;  6  captains,  14  lieutenants,  14  cornets. 

The  queen's  regiment  of  dragoons  :  —  Charles  Viscount  Clare,  colonel ; 
Alexander  Barnewal,  lieutenant  colonel;  Charles  Maxwell,  major; 
6  captains,  14  lieutenants,  14  corntJts. 

The  king's  infantry  regiment  of  gxi&rds :  —  William  Dorington,  colonel ; 
Oliver  O'Gara,  lieutenant  colonel ;  J^ohn  Rothe,  major  ;  12  captains,  28 
lieutenants,  28  sub-lieutenants,  14  ensigns. 

The  queen's  regiment  of  infantry  :  —  imon  Luttrel,  colonel ;  Francis 
Wachop,  lieutenant  colonel;  Jam  .  '  Jrien,  major;  12  captains,  28 
lieutenants,  28  sub-lieutenants,  14  o     igns. 

An'infantry  regiment  of  marines  .  -  The  Lord  Grand-prior,  colonel  { 
Nicholas  Fitzgerald,  lieutenant  coj  nei ;  Richard  Nugent,  second  lieu- 
tenant colonel;  Edmond  O'Madden,  major;  11  captains,  28  lieutenants, 
28  sub-lieutenants,  14  ensigns. 

The  Limerick  regiment  of  infantry  :  —  Sir  John  Fitzgerald,  colonel ; 
Jevemiah  O'Mahony,  lieutenant  colonel ;  William  Thessy,  major ;  12 
captains,  28  lieutenants,  28  sub-liei  tenants,  14  ensigns. 

The  Charlemont  regiment  of  iufnntry :  —  Gordon  O'Neill,  colonel ; 
Hugh  McMahon,  lieutenant  colf""'  ,  Edmond  Murphy,  major ;  12  cap- 
tains, 28  lieutenants,  28  sub-lieutenants,  14  ensigns. 

Dublin  regiment  of  infantry: — John  Power,  colonel;  John  Power, 
lieutenant  colonel ;  Theobald  Burke,  major  ;  12  captains,  28  lieutenants, 
28  sub-lieutenants  ;  14  ensigns. 

The  Athlone  regijnent  of  infantrj  .  —  Walter  Burke,  colonel;  Owen 
McCarty,  lieutenant  colonel;  Edmond  Cantwell,  rajgor;  12  captains, 
28  lieutenants,  28  sub-lieutenants,  14  ensigns.  —  McGeoghegan,  Siatory 
tflteiand,  pp.  606,  606. 

.,T*  Authority,  Clarke,  Due  de  Feltre,  niiniBter  at  war  in  Franca  — 
atett  in  O'Connor's  MiHtaiy  Memoirs. 


.4 1 

204         .<iv 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH    THfi 


^- 


Mi' 


tematically  in  the  south  and  west,  long  after  the  survi* 
vors  of  Limerick  had  fired  their  last  shot.  Smugglers 
from  the  Channel  Islands,  in  their  light  coasting  craft,  ran 
in  disguised  prie  t  and  other  contraband  good'^  and  car- 
ried away  '~Jiny  i  tall  fellow,  food  for  powd* .(»  nd  can- 
didate for  glory.  Severe  laws  were  enacted  against 
recruiting,  and  those  taken  in  the  fact  were  summarily 
executed.  In  Queen  Anne's  reign,  there  is  mention  of 
two  or  three  such  executions.  Still  this  perilous  trade 
was  prosecuted  by  tho  smugglers  with  unwearied  energy. 
Recruits  were  usually  booked  as  "  wild  geese "  —  a 
name  which  came  to  be  synonymous  with  soldier,  in 
those  troubled  times.  Many  a  popular  bullad  recorded 
the  parting  of  the  "  wild  geese  "  from  their  native  shore, 
and  their  achievements  abroad.  In  those  days,  ballads 
took  the  place  of  the  broadsheets  and  newspapers,  and 
foreign  politics  were  recited  and  sung  at  fair  and  market, 
in  allegories  which  only  the  initiated  could  comprehend. 
Like  rythagoras,  the  itinerant  songster  spoke  in  hints 
and  proverbs,  making  his  audience  "  see,  as  through  a 
glass^  darkly." 

In  the  war  of  the  succession,  the  chief  glory  of  the 
brigade  was  th.o  defence  of  Cremona,  and  their  share 
in  the  batni"  of  Blenheim  and  Ramillies.  On  the 
latter  field.  (JMlrien,  Lord  Clare,  fell  mortally  wounded, 
leaving  after  'ahn  a  son  to  conquer,  at  Fontenoy.  Riva 
surrendered  to  Dillon,  and  Alsira  to  O'Mahony.  On 
the  field  of  Aimanza,  13th  March,  1707,  (a  date  British 
historians  duly  "  overlook,")  the  French  and  Irish  killed 
three  thousand  of  the  Anglo-Dutch  forces,  and  took  ten 
thousand  prisoners  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  stands 
of  colors.  This  battle  compelled  Queen  Anne  to  dis- 
miss Marlborough,  and  accept  the  humiliating  peace  of 
Utrecht.    '^  '^^^  i 

But  the  hottest  and  proudest  day  the  brigade  ever  saw 
was  a  May  day,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1745.  The 
French  army,  commanded  by  Saxe,  and  accompanied  by 
King  Louis,  leaving  eighteen  thousand  men  to  besiege 
Namur,  and  six  thousand  to  guard  the  Scheldt,  took  a 
position  between  that  river  and  the  British,  having  tfleir 
centre  at  the  village  of  Fontenoy.     The  British  and  Dutch 


wmmmim 


it  A 


PROTESTANT    RKFi>nMATIUN    IN    IRELAND. 


205 


n 


under  King  George's  son,  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  were 
fifty -five  thousand  strong;  the  French  forty-five  thousand. 
After  a  hard  day's  fighting,  victory  seemed  to  declare 
against  France,  and  King  Louis,  who  was  present,  pre- 
pared for  flight.  At  this  moment.  Marshal  Saxe  ordered  a 
final  charge,  by  the  seven  Irish  regiments,  under  O'Brien, 
Tount  Thomond.  The  tide  was  turned  again  to  the 
cry  of  "  Remember  Limerick."  France  was  delivered, 
England  humbled,  and  HoII'mv^  reduced  from  a  first  to  a 


partly  by  Irish  hearts 

don,  thev  flung  them* 

them  like  a  torrent, 

blood  was  shed  like 

3  (including  Dillon) 


second-rate  power  upon  tb 

and  hands,     With  utter  ? 

selves  on  the  enemy.     Tl 

but  on  the  conquered  gru 

rain.     One  fourth  of  all  tl; 

were  killed,  and  one  third  of  all  tlje  men, 

Until  Austerlitz,  Fontenoy  stood  unequalled  in  mili- 
tary history.  But  the  brave  brigade?  never  recovered  its 
lost  blood  upon  that  field.  To  the  last,  the  remnant 
kept  their  colors  and  their  character.  In  Germany  with 
Saxe,  in  the  East  with  Lally,  in  Canada  with  Montcalm, 
the  last  of  that  heroic  brotherhood  fought  till  they  died. 
Their  favorite  chiefs  all  fell  on  the  field  :  McCarthy, 
Sarsfield,  the  two  O'Briens,  and  the  two  Dillons,  died 
in  battle,  and  all  victorious  against  England:  The  last 
of  the  Bourbons  gave  the  last  of  the  brigade  a  flag  with 

this  motto :  — 

"  1692-1792. 
Semper  et  Ubique  Fidelia." 

When,  in  1745,  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Fontenoy 
reached  King  George,  he  exclaimed,  in  the  bitterness  of 
his  disappointment,  "  Cursed  be  the  laws  that  deprived 
me  of  such  subjects !  "  Singular  confession  !  The  penal 
laws  were  found,  after  a  trial  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  to  have  served  no  purpose  of  state  policy  !  They 
had  exiled,  but  not  extinguished,  the  faithful  Irish  race ! 
By  the  camp  fires  of  Fonteroy  the  discovery  was  made. 
The  British  might  run  and  read,  but  the  end  was  not  yet. 
The  reformation  had  done  its  work  in  England,  if  not  in 
Ireland  ;  and  those  who  had  raised  the  spirit  of  persecu- 
tion were  unable,  of  themselves,  to  conjure  it  down ! 


18 


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Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14S80 

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206 


ATTEMPTS   TO   KSTABLtSH   TfiB 


i^-' 


(  I 


CHAPTER  VI. 


# 


THE  JACOBITES  AND  THE  IBtSH  CATHQUCS — THE  STUABTS  GOV 
SULTED  AT  BOMB  ON  THE  APPOINTMENT  OF  IBISH  BISHOPS.  -- 
THE  BAPPABEBS.  — THE  WANDEl^NG  MINSTBELS  AND   "NEWS* 

MEN." 

Kinr^  James  II.  died  at  St.  Germain's,-  in  1701,  and 
was  buried  at  the  English  Benedictines'  cbarch.  '  Louis 
immediately  acicnowledged  his  son,  under  the  title  of 
Jamei?  III.,  by  which  name  he  received  not  only  the 
French  court,  but  also  those  faithful  refugees,  chiefly 
Scotch  and  Irish,  who  still  clung  to  his  family.  Although) 
at  the  time  of  his  birth,  the  enemies  of  his  father  pre- 
tended to  doubt  his  legitimacy,  the  loyalists,  or,  as  they 
are  better  known,  "  the  Jacobites,"  in  both  Ireland  and 
Britain,  extended  to  him  the  allegiance  due  to  the  law- 
ful sovereign.*  During  the  entire  reign  of  Anne,  the 
partisans  of  the  old  dynasty  were  active  end  sanguine, 
and  it  was  not  till  the  establishment  of  the  present  succes- 
sion that  they  began  to  conceal  their  opinions,  or  ceased 
to  conspire  for  their  success.  ^ 

The  result  of  the  Scotch  rising  of  that  year  disheari> 
eoed  no  tfue  Jacobite.  The  battles  of  Killiecrankie, 
Qiider  Dundee,  and  Sheriffmuir,  under  Mar,  were  both 
victories.  Dundee's  death,  and  the  military  incapacity 
of  James  himself,  who  arrived  in  January,  1716,  in  Aber- 
deen, in  time  to  spoil  his  last  chance,  were  supposed  fully 
to  account  for  the  failure  of  that  attempt.  Hence  the 
rumored  Spanish  expedition  of  1719,  ana  Bishop  Atter- 
bury's  plot,  in  1722,  filled  the  hearts  of  the  party  with 
sanguine  expectations,  destined  not  to  be  fulfilled,  nor 
yet  to  be  extinguished. 

In  1702,  there  were  rumors  of  a  Jacobite  rising  in 
Mutaster;  and  upon  the  evidence  of  "three  worthless 
fellows,"  Mdjor  Geoffery  Keating  and  three  respe^bk 
citizens  of  Limerick  were  arrested,  and  sent  to  Dublin  with 
a  troop  of  dragoons.  "  They  were  remitted  back  to  Lim* 
erick,  tried  at  the  assizes,  and  honorably  acqtiitted."  * 


*  Ferrar'B  History  of  Limeriok,  pi  120. 


PROTESTANT    BEFORMATfbN   IN    IRBLAND. 


907 


Like  mmors  were  rife  concerning  Gktlway  and  other 
places,  at  several  periods,  but  there  seems  to  have  been 
no  good  foundation  for  any  of  them.  In  1743,  when 
such  a  rumor  prevailed,  a  privy  councillor  proposed  that 
a  massacre  of  the  Irish  Catholics  should  be  made,  on  the 
ground  that,  by  the  rising  of  1641,  that  community  had 
put  themselves  out  of  the  pale  of  civilization^  and  ought 
to  be  destroyed.* 

James  III.  and  his  son  were  most  anxious  to  keep  up 
their  party  in  Ireland.  The  officers  of  the  brigade  were 
much  courted  by  them,  and  the  new  commissions  came 
chiefly  through  their  hands.  The  popes,  adopting  a 
similar  policy,  constantly  consulted  James  on  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  Irish  bilahops.     For  fifty  years  after  the 

-  treaty  of  Limerick,  no  mitre  was  conferred  without  the 
concurrence  of  the  Stuarts.f  Thus  the  Irish  on  the 
continent,  as  well  clerics  as  soldiers,  were  kept  in  close 
connection  with  the  old  dynasty. 

The  population  remaining  at  home,  after  the  open 

^  violation  of  the  treaty,  began  to  look  with  eagerness  for 
the  return  of  a  Catholic  sovereign,  who,  it  was  hoped^ 
would  be  made  wise  by  adversity,  and  would  do  them 
justice.  Although  a  dull  and  sullen  silence  reigned  over 
the  greater  part  of  the  island,  the  minds  of  men  were 
far  from  settled.  In  the  mountainous  districts,  as  the 
Mourne,  the  Wicklow  and  Carlow  Highlands,  and  the 
mountains  of  Tipperary  and  Kerry,  there  still  remained 

^  bands  of  the  old  guerillas  of  1688,  known  as  *^  Rappa- 
rees"  —  men  generally  the  descendants  of  good  families, 
whose  estates  had  suffered  confiscation,  and  who  had 
nothing  further  to  fear  from  outlawry.  Even  in  this 
wild  life,  they  usually  retained  the  bearing  of  well-born 
men,  and  often  exercised  a  chivalrous  protectorate  over 
the  poor  and  the  injured.  In  a  state  of  imperfect  inter- 
course and  police,  they  had  a  thousand  opportunitiei^  for 
displays  of  tact  and  courage ;  and  if  half  the  traditions  of 


*  More's  Captain  Rock,  p.   140.     Longman's  6th  edition,  London, 
1824. 
t  Pope  Benedict  XIV.,  about  the  yen  IJpX,  diMonlintted  this  usage. 


808 


ATTEMPTS  "TO   ESTABLISH    THE 


■# 


them  are  true,  they  displayed  many  qualities  worthy  of 
the  highest  admiration. 

The  first  Rapparees,  by  King  James's  reports,  had 
made  their  mark  on  the  open  field  before  they  took  to 
the  hills.  "  One  O'Connor,"  a  Kildare  Rapparee,  "with 
sixty  men  on  horseback,  and  as  many  on  foot,  surprised 
two  companies  of  grenadiers,  whom  thev  cut  to  pieces, 
then  went  to  Phillipstown,  where  they  killed  one  hundred 
and  twenty  dragoons,  burned  the  town,  and  carred'away 
a  great  booty  of  horse."*  This  was  in  midwinter,  1691. 
Another  "Rapparee,"  Anthony  O' Carroll,  surnamed  "the 
Tall,"  took  and  held,  during  1690  and  1691,  the  castle 
and  town  of  Nenagh,  and  when  obliged  to  vacate  it, 
brought  with  him  five  hundred  men,  in  good  order,  to 
Limerick.f  William's  chapla,in  and  historiographer  con- 
fesses, frankly  enough,  the  activity  of  the  Rapparees. 
"  They  are  not  to  be  kept  in  their  own  province,  [Con- 
naught,]  but  can  both  keep  us  out,  and  also  come  among 
us  whenever  they  have  a  mind  to  it ! "  J 

Among  the  best  remembered  of  the  successors  of  these 
gallant  guerillas  are  O'Keefe  and  Callaghan,  in  Mun- 
ster;  Higgins,  Grace,  and  the  galloping  O'Hogan, 
in  the  western  and  midland  counties;  O'Dempsey 
and  Kavanagh,  ("the  White  Sergeant,")  in  Leinster. 
These  were  all  men  of  some  military  experience,  and  f^^ 
ancient  family,  who  are  not  to  be  confounded  with  1^ 
leaders  of  the  agrarian  societies  formed  about  the  middle 
of  the  century.  The  malice  of  party  has  endeavored  to 
stigmatize  them  as  cutthroats  and  highwaymen,  but  the 
contemporaneous  facts  entitle  the  Irish  Rapparses  to  rank 
with  the  guerillas  of  Spain  and  the  gallant  outlaws  of 
every  defeated  nationality ;  with  Wallace  and  Tell,  and 
Scanderberg  and  Marion,  they  are  entitled  to  stand; 
on  the  same  ground,  and  in  the  same  light  of  impartial 
history. 

Besides  the  brigade,  the  clergy,  the  peasantry,  and  the 
Rapparees,  there  was  another  body  of  Jacobites  not  to  be 

♦  King  James's  Memoirs,  vol.  ii.  p.  433. 
t  Harris's  Life  of  King  William,  p.  297. 
X  Story's  Impartial  History,  vol,  iL  |k  147. 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


fsm 


of 


forgotten  —  the  poets  aiyl  ballad  singers..  They  were 
the  "  newsmen  "  and  censors  of  their  time—  a  large  and 
various  class,  ranging  from  the  accomplished  gentleman, 
who,  like  Fitzgerald,  paraphrased  Horace,  or  like  McDon- 
ald, of  Claragh,  translated  Homer  into  Gaelic,  down 
to  the  poor  performer  and  worse  versifier  who  earned 
his  ''bit  and  sup"  by  nightly  concerts  in  the  village 
tavern. 

Chanting  a  tongue  strange  to  their  oppressors,  but  no^ 
beyond  the  chance  of  detection,  they  threw  all  their 
political  poems  into  an  allegorical  form.  At  one  time 
"  the  pretender  "  was  "  a  blackbird,"  pining  in  a  foreign 
cage,  and  sorely  troubled,  though  waited  on* by  lords 
and  ladies ;  at  another,  "  a  little  dark  man ; "  sometimes 
Ireland,  personified  as  a  fairy,  appeared  to  the  poet, 
wailing  and  refusing  to  be  comforted,  while  her  beloved 
was  far  away :  — 

*'  My  priests  are  banished,  my  wairion  weai 
No  longer  victory's  garland ; 
And  my  child,  my  son,  my  beloved  heir. 
Is  an  exile  in  a  fior  land."* 

In  other  moods,  a  girl  sings  of  her  banished  lover,  and 
declares  her  belief  that  he  will  return  from  France  to 
vindicate  her  cause  against  cruel  and  oppressive  rela- 
tives ;  or  the  poet  addresses  his  country  in  the  guise  of 
a  dear  mistress,  assuring  her  of  his  constancy,  and  fore- 
telling happier  days  to  come :  — 

•'Rise  up,  my  boy !  make  ready 

My  horse,  for  I  forth  would  ride 
To  foUow  the  modest  damsel 

That  dwells  on  the  green  hill's  side ; 
For  e'er  since  our  youth  were  we  plighted 

In  fiEuth,  troth,  and  wedlock  true. 
O,  she's  sweeter  to  me,  ten  times  over, 

Than  organ  or  cuckoo  ! " 

Another  bard  declares  his  constancy  still  more  signif- 
icantly-: — 

"I'U  leave  my  people,  both  ftiend  and  foe ; 
From  all  the  girls  in  the  world  I'll  go ; 
But  from  you,  sweetheart,  O,  never  I  O,  no ! 
Till  I  lie  in  the  coffin,  stretched  cold  and  low ! " 

•  Mangan's  Trans,  in  Duffy's  Ballad  Poetry  of  Ireland.  Dublin,  1846. 

18* 

.f    ■ 


310 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


More  homely,  but  not  less  popular,  was  he  who  typi- 
fied pastoral  Ireland  in  a  dun  cow,  "  with  a  face  like  a 
rose,  and  a  dewlap  of  snow."  To  her  the  Irish  farmer 
tells  his  griefs  without  restraint.  He  questions  her  as  to 
her  old  friends,  and  answers  in  the  same  stanza,  — - 

*' Ah,  Drimin  Dhu  deelish,  a  pride  of  the^to;  • 
Ah,  where  are  jour  folks  —  are  they  liying,  or  no  ? 
They're  down  in  the  ground,  'neath  the  sod  lying  low, 
Expecting  King  James  with  the  crown  on  his  brow." 

Leaving  them,  he  speaks  of  himself,  and  declares :  — 

'*  But  if  I  oould  get  sight  of  the  crown  on  his  brow, 
By  night  and  day  travelling,  to  London  I'd  goj 
Over  mountains  of  mist,  and  soft  mosses  below, 
Till  I'd  beat  on  the  kettle  drums,  Drimin  Dhu,  ()  !  " 

Not  content  with  loving  allegories,  the  house  of  Han- 
over and  their  chief  partisans  were  satirized  under  va-i 
rious  fanciful  symbols,  all  of  which,  of  course,  a  gesture 
or  a  sign  made  perfectly  intelligible  to  the  audience, 
who  had  the  pieces  hot  from  the  composer's  lips,  in  a 
speech  common  to  both. 

The  most  notable  of  the  Jacobite  bards  were  Carolan, 
(born  in  Meath  in  1670,  died  in  1731,)  McDonnell,  of 
Claragh,  in  Cork,  (born  in  1691,  died  1754,)  O'SuUivan, 
of  Kerry,  (born  about  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, died  1784.)  Carolan  excelled  as  a  musician  more 
than  as  a  poet,  while  McDonnell  an<i  O' Sullivan  pos- 
sessed the  true  poetic  fire,  and  knew  how  to  cultivate  and 
subject  it  to  the  rules  of  art.  A  vast  procession,  bearing 
laurels,  or  something  very  like  laurel,  follows  behind 
these  masters  of  Irish  song.  The  number  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  count,  or  the  precise  merit  of  each  to  distinguish. 
We  can  only  estimate  their  merit  from  the  scanty. trans- 
lations that  have  been  made,  and  their  numbers  from 
the  accounts  of  the  two  great  "  bardic  sessions,"  period- 
ically held  at  Charleville,  in  Cork,  and  Burrin,  in  Lim- 
erick. At  these  assemblies,  between  one  and  two  hun- 
dred composers  of  words,  or  airs,  attended  annually,  till 
within  ten  years  of  the  end  of  the  century.  The  Ulster 
session  helc  at  Belfast,  in  1792,  numbered  threescore. 


■n 


*  Ferguson's  Trans.  McCarthy's  Book  of  Irish  Ballads. 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


2ll 


a 


This  species  of  Jacobite  organization,  while  very  hard 
to  be  got  at  by  the  new  dynasty,  was  of  very  little  avail 
to  the  old.  It  served  rather  to  keep  alive  than  to  increase 
or  direct  the  expectation  of  change.  Though  irritating 
in  detail  to  <<  the  Brunswickers/'  it  was  powerless  in  the 
aggregate.  It  had  in  fact  no  aggregate.  Yet  its  history 
illustrates  a  truth  that  we  have  often  perceived  evidences 
of  elsewhere,  which  is,  that  those  who  administer  and 
chose  who  oppose  a  government  are  equally  apt  to  over- 
rate each  other's  power.  The  governors,  being  within 
the  edifice,  see  where  it  is  vulnerable,  and  become  ner- 
vously anxious ;  the  assailants,  looking  at  the  imposing 
outside,  are  often  overawed  by  an  appearance  of  strength, 
which  is  only  an  appearance. 

Thus,  in  1715,  when  the  partisans  of  James  "the 
Third"  partially  rose  in  arms  at  Preston  and  in  Scotland, 
all  the  registered  priests  in  Ireland  were  ordered  to  be 
arrested  and  transported  beyond  seas ;  all  the  chapels,  or 
"  mass  houses,"  were  ordered  to  be  shut  up,  though  there 
|was  not  the  least  symptom  of  insurrection  at  the  time. 
.  It  was  the  custom  once  io  urge,  as  very  creditable  to 
*  Irish  loyalty,"  that  our  Jacobites  did  not  rise  en  masses 
or  at  least  attempt  a  diversion,  in  1715.  The  fact  seems 
to  be,  that  they  were  unable  to  rise.  Without  chiefs,  or 
organization,  or  arms,  what  could  they  do  but  wait  for 
events,  as  they  did  ?  The  Rapparees  were  dying  out, 
and  all  the  candidates  for  military  life  had  sailed  away 
as  wild  geese.  A  few  Irish  officers  did  join  in  the  Scot- 
tish rising  of  1716,  but  they  were  chiefly  from  the  conti- 
nent. Some  of  them,  like  Chevalier  Wogan,  suffered 
imprisonment,  were  liberated,  and  returned  to  foreign 
service. 

The  house  of  Brunswick  was  placed  on  the  throne,  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  regulating  "  the  Protestant 
succession."  The  first  of  them  —  George  I.,  the  son  of 
the  electress  Sophia,  granddaughter  to  James  I.,  was 
bred  a  Catholic,  but  apostatized  in  view  of  the  English 
throne.  He  stood  fourth  in  descent  from  the  first  Stuart, 
who  ruled  over  the  three  kingdoms,  and  consequently 
combined  in  his  own  person  the  traditions  and  the  blood 


*  *i 


2^ 


PBOTBBTANT   RirOBMATIOJf  JN   IRSLANO* 


m 


of  aU  tke  lovereignii  lince  the  conquest  But  this  he  had 
only  materaalfy  and  with  much  mixture,  while  hard  hy, 
in  France^  lived  the  immediate  hei^  of  the  line.  Aa 
between  titles,  the  Stuarts  had  the  best  of  it ;  but  the 
Guelphs,  becoming  Btotestants,  oould  command  all  the 
p&rty  created  and  enriched  by  <*  the  reformation^"  and 
disciplined  by  <<the  revolution : "  having  that  party,  suc- 
cess was  easy.  It  was,  at  Queen  Mne's  death,  a  very 
doubtful  matter,  for  a  month,  which  scale  would  sink  or 
rise.  Had  the  legitimists  acted  promptly,  the  day  was 
theirs.  Had  Ormond  taken  Arbuthnot's  counsel,  and 
proclaimed  King  James  in  London  streets,  the  Stuarts 
mifl^t  have  reigned  again.  But  Anne  died  suddenly, 
and  without  a  will ;  the  noble  Jacobites  hesitated ;  the 
people  had  no  power ;  the  whigs  were  resolute,  and  the 
crown  of  England  passed  to  a  third-rate  German  family. 
J^mes  **  the  Third "  was  not  a  person  io  supply  the 
want  of  nerve  in  his  adherents.  Something  of  a  liber- 
tine, and  a  good  deal  of  a  glutton,  he  had  little  of  the 
heroic  in  him.  He  allowed  the  first  elector  to  take  his 
throne  without  any  great  resistance.  After  this  he  mar- 
ried the  granddaughter  of  Sobieski,  the  famous  king  of 
Poland,  and  rejoiced  over  the  heirs  for  whom  he  had 
made  no  provision.  In  1720,  Charles  Edward  was  born, 
and  in  1725,  Henry  Benedict,  afterwards  **  Cardinal 
York." 

^  The  new  dynasty,  on  the  other  hand,  showed  no  lack 
of  worldly  wisdom.  Their  advent,  as  sovereigns  in  Ire- 
land, marks  an  era,  for,  though  persecution  was  not 
d^ad,  the  old  engines  of  oppression  were  strange  and 
unfamiliar  to  new  hands.  The  ever-active  Catholic 
spirit  took  advantage  of  the  interval.  The  poor  orders, 
-especially  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  promptly 
returned  to  Dublin,  Limerick,  Cashel,  Cork,  Waterford, 
Wexfordj  Drogheda,  Sligo,  and  Galway,  where,  un- 
recognized by  the  laws  of  the  land,  they  have  ever  Ikince 
continued  to  reside. 


.m 


■0 


BOOK  III. 


A.   D.    1727    TO    1830. 


fWL   *      " 


M' 


# 


# 


FBOM  THB 


ACCESSION   OF   GEORGE   II 


mXTlh  THE 


*     •  ■* 


DEATH   OF   GEORGE  IV. 


♦■ 


m 


':*ir 


(Nd 


■  V 


'» 


*,.     • 


t 


4 


-*  ■'• 


^■* 


'-.■*^t^ 


'U    ^ 


■*, 


% 


W-*  * 


•  .  CHAPTER  I. 

IRISH  PARITES  IN  THE  REION  OP  GEORQE  II.— "THE  PATRI0T8.»»- 
"  THE  CASTLE  PARTY."  —  INCREASE  OF  THE  CATHOLICS.  —  ESTAB- 
LISHMENT OF  CHARTER  SCHOOLS.  —  SWIFT'S  (PORTRAITS  OF  THE 
PROTESTANT  PRELATES.  —  BATTLE  OF  CULLODEN. -CHANGE   OF 


CATHOUC  TACTICS. 


w 


"  'The  city  of  Dublin  became  the  actual  capital  of  Ire- 
land after  the  treaty  of  Limerick.  GhraduallV)  by  the 
strong  arm  of  military  power,  or  the  silken  cords  of  pat- 
ronage, the  country  was  drawn  to  it  as  to  a  centre.  Once 
the  fortress  of  invasion,  it  now  bourgeoned  into  the  cita- 
del of  a  kingdom.  Once  the  seat  of  a  partial  represen- 
tation, (more  a  parley  than  a  Parliament,)  it  now  began 
to  consider  itself  a  seat  of  laws  and  of  authority  for  the 
whole  island,  and  to  assume  the  tone  and  leading  be- 
coming its  position. 

Two  constitutional  parties  -ivere  the  first  signs  that  real 
power  had  settled  there.  The  government  party  was 
compose^f  all  who  either  had  offices  or  expectations 
from  the  viceroy  or  from  England,  and  of  that  numerous, 
body  who  always  like  to  stand  well  with  a  government, 
of  whatever  sort.  Dublin  Castle  was  their  club,  and 
from  the  rei^n  of  William  till  the  middle  of  the  centurj^ 
the  j^ccessive  Pirotestant  prims tes  were  their  most  active 
chiefs.  The  Irish  House  of  Lords,  created  by  England, 
was  almost  entirely  made  up  of  their  partisans. 

The  opposition  party  took  the  name  of  "  the  patriots." 
Molyneux,  member  for  Trinity  College,  in  William's  first 
Irish  ParliaoKNit,  was  its  precursor,  and  after  his  early 
death,  Swift,  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  became  its  director 
and  champion  ^ough  part  of  Anne's  and  the  entire  of 
^''George  I.'s  reign.  The  policy  of  thfe  party  was  to  main- 
tain the  local  independence  of  the  Parliament,  to  revive 
Irish  commerce  and  manufactures,  to  create  a  public 


216 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


spirit  in  the  boroughs  and  through  the  country  by  their 
writings,  to  prevent  arable*  land  being  laid  down  in  pas- 
ture, and  the  depopulation  included  in  that  design.  The 
landlords,  who  had  their  titles  by  conquests  still  recent, 
felt  no  obligation  io  the  tenantry  —  quite  the  reverse :  as 
cattle  became  more  profitable  than  cultivators,  they 
adopted  a  systenf  of  extermination,  which  left  whole  es- 
tates without  other  occupants  than  herds  and  herdsmen. 
The  selfishness  of  the  class  was  equal  to  their  inhumanity. 

The  "  tithe  of  agistment,"  (or  tithe  of  cattle,)  an  impor- 
tant source  of  revenue  to  the  establishment,  was  every 
where  resisted  by  them.  They  formed  an  association  for 
'  united  opposition,  and  in  1735,  they  succeeded  in  having 
it  abolished.  The  entire  tithe  charge  then  fell  upon  the 
lei^seholders  or  tenants  at  will,  already  burdened  with 
rent,  and  haunted  by  the  fear  of  an  increased  rent,  or 
sudden  ejectment  to  make  way  for  cattle. 

The  policy  advocated  by  the  "patriot  party"  was 
favorable  to  the  interests  of  Catholics.  If  manufactures 
increased,  wages  must  increase ;  if  depopulation  was 
stayed,  the  tenants  would  have  leave  and  room  to  live. 
If  high  culture  succeeded  grazing,  some  better  tenure 
than  ftiere  occupancy  should  be  conceded  to  the  farmers. 
If  the  Parliament  became  independent,  there  was  reason 
to  expect  it  would  try  to  strengthen  itself  at  home  by 
,  extending  the  constituency.  No  wise  act  of  native  legis- 
lation, however  interpreted,  could  be  unfavorable  to  the 
body  of  the  native  population.  Indirectly  or  directly, 
mediately  or  immediately,  they  should  be  the  gainers. 
So  did  rrovidence  dispose  events,  that  the  intended  in- 
struments of  provincial  oppression  became  the  means  of 
gradual  amelioration. 

But  during  the  reigns  of  Anne  and  the  two  first 
Georges,  the  patriots,  as  a  minority^  could  do  but  little 
in  College  Greeik.  Until  J.767,  Irish  Parliaments  sat 
during  the  lifetime  of  the  king,  unless  specially  dissolved. 
The  government  party  had  the  elections  of  1730  their 
own  way ;  the  Parliament  then  elected  lasted  thirty 
years !  Upon  a  body  so  irresponsible  to  the  nation,  and 
$o  likely  to  fall  into  the  harness  aQ4  th^  .pensioii  lipt  of 


■^'/W 


'PROTECTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


217 


y  their 
in  pas- 
.     The 
recent, 
rse:  as 
1,    they 
tiole  es- 
•dsmen. 
manity. 
i  impor- 
,8  every 
,tion  for 
I  having 
ipon  the 
ed  with 
rent^  or 

y"  was 
ifactures 
ion  was 
1  to  live, 
r  tenure 
farmers. 
,s  reason 
lome  by 
ve  legis- 
e  to  the 
directly, 
gainers, 
nded  in- 
aeans  of 

wo  first 
)ut  little 
ents  sat 
issolved. 
'30  their 
d^  thirty 
tion,  and 
m  list  of 


the  eastle,  the  ablest  reasoning  and  the  highest  eloquence 
might  be  spent  in  vain.  The  prose  and  verse  of  Swift, 
Sheridan,  (the  first,)  Dobbs,  Deianey,  Madden,  and  Ma- 
lone  were,  in  most  cases,  thrown  away.  In  1723,  ^n 
the  question  of  debasing  the  Irish  currency,  for  which 
William  Wood  had  a  patent  from  England,  there  were 
some  symptoms  of  public  spirit  shown'in  the  Commons. 
But  it  wa«  with  the  people  the  appeals  of  Swift  took  most. 
"  I  find  "  (Primate  Boulter  writes  to  the  English  prime 
minister,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle)^  "  the  people  of  every 
religion,  country,  and  party  here  are  alike  set  against 
Wood's  halfpence,  and  that  their  agreement  in  this  has 
had  a  most  unhappy  influence  on  the  state  of  this  nation, 
by  bringing  on  intimacies  between  Papists  and  the  whigs, 
who  before  had  no  correspondence  with  them."  *  From 
this  dispute  about  the  currency  we  may  d^te  the  return 
of  public  spirit,  beaten  down  and  exiled  in  the  late  war. 
The  patriots,  henceforward,  entitled  themselves,  by  de- 
grees, to  be  called  the  national  party. 

The  series  of  steps  by  which  the  Dublin  Parliament 
advanced  towards  legislative  independence  were,  at  first, 
altogether  financial.  In  1723,  the  Commons  addressed^ 
the  king  to  consent  to  a  reduction  of  the  supplies,  but  no 
notice  was  taken  of  their  modest  request ;  by  1729,  Ire- 
land "owed  the  government"  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  thousand  pounds  —  a  vast  sum  for  that  period :  in 
1731,  another  petition  for  reduction  went  out,  with  the 
like  result.  Every  session  in  future  was  occupied  with 
"  a  money  bill "  debate,  the  supplies  being  voted  annu- 
ally. Even  after  the  revenues  began  to  yield  a  surplus, 
the  discussion  was  kept  up,  for  the  principle  had  taken 
root.  In  1753,  a  severe  struggle  for  the  surplus  fund  took 
place,  and  the  politics  of  Swift  triumphed. 

Several  of  the  leaders  in  debates  at  this  time  were 
children  of  the  old  Catholics.  In  1753,  Anthony  Ma- 
lone,  son  of  Sir  Toby  Butler's  old  colleague,  a  native  of 
Westipeath,  stood  at  the  head  of  the  Irish  bar.  He 
was  "  prime  sergeant,"  and  took  precedence  of  the  at- 


19 


*  Boulter's  Letters. 


■  v^'-ift*  ¥-5' 


1*^  * 


•"■W 


218 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


torney  general  among  the  crown  officers.  For  voting 
against  the  castle,  on  the  supplies  of  1753,  he  was  ousted, 
and  in  1768,  for  similar  independence,  he  was  removed 
fjom  his  office  as  chancellor  of  the  exchequer.  He  was 
considered  by  such  judges  as  Grattan  the  equal  of 
Lord  Chatham  in  parliamentary  eloquence.* 

On  the  castle  side  was  a  very  unscrupulous,  but  very 
able  man,  John  Healy,  who  at  his  marriage  assumed  the 
name  of  Hutchinson.  The  son  of  humble  Catholic  par- 
onts  in  the  south,  he  had  resolved  to  fight  his  way  to 
rank,  and  began  by  disencumbering  himself  of  his  pro- 
scribed religion.  He  rose  to  eminence  at  the  bar  and  in 
Parliament;  became  provost  of  Trinity  College,  Earl  of 
Donoughmore,  a  privy  councillor,  and  one  of  the  richest 
of  the  Irish  peerage.  He  gained  the  whole  world  of  his 
ambition ;  but  what  did  it  profit  him  at  the  hour  of  death  ? 

Sir  Lucius  O'Brien,  and  Mr.,  afterwards  Lord  O'Neil, 
members  for  Antrim  and  Clare,  distinguished  themselves 
on  the  patriot  side.  The  Dalys,  Brownes,  Floods,  and 
Fitzgeralds,  also  of  Catholic  ancestors,  were  well-known 
members  of  Parliament.  The  castle  was  defeated  on 
^  the  money  bills,  and  the  surplus  revenue  was,  in  future, 
expended  in  paying  ojff  the  national  debt,  and  in  forwatd- 
ing  internal  improvements. 

The  Viceroys  Wharton,  Carteret,  Grafton,  and  Ches- 
terfield had  seen  the  rise  of  the  patriot  party.  Boulter 
had  tried  in  vajn  to  strangle  it.  His  successor  in  place 
and  politics,  Primate  Stone,  who  is  related  to  him  in  our 
history,  on  a  small  scale,  as  Mazarin  is  to  Richelieu  in 
that  of  France,  grappled  it  in  vain.  The  Duke  of  Bed- 
ford, viceroy  from  1750  to  1760,  assisted  Stone  with  all 
the  appliances  of  patronage  and  power.  But  it  was 
i  labor  lost ;  a  great  party  had  been  created^  and  it  ad- 
vanced from  aggression  to  aggression. 

The  elder  Pitt,  who  then  ruled  England,  writes  to 
the  duke,  in  1757,  that  the  parties  being  '^on  a  near 
equality  in  strength,"  "  all  softening  and  healing  arts  of 


*  Mr.  CoraeliuB  O'Callaghan,  Jr.,  a  son  of  Butler's  old  protigi,  was  also 
•n  aotiy«  member  of  Uiese  Parliameuts. 


,..* 


^ 


■  '''W* 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION   IN    IRELAND.  219 


government"  — in  plain  terms,  bribery  and  titles  —  are 
to  be  tried.  A  partial  success  attended  this  policy,  but 
only  partial,  and  for  a  short  time. 

In  1759,  a  report  prevailed  in  Dublin,  that  "  a  unioa" 
was  contemplated.  On  the  3d  of  December,  the  citizens 
rose  en  masse,  and  'surrounded  the  houses  of  Parliament. 
They  stopped  the  carriages  of  members,  and  obliged  them 
to  swear  opposition  to  such  a  measure.  Some  of  the 
Protestant  bishops,  the  chancellor,  and  the  attorney  gen- 
eral were  roughly  handled,  but  escaped;  a  privy  coun- 
cillor was  thrown  into  the  river;  Lord  Inchiquin  was 
abused  till  he  said  his  name  was  O'Brien,  when  the 
rage  of  the  people  "was  turned  into  acclamations."* 
The  speaker  (Ponsonby)  and  the  secretary  for  Ire- 
land (Rigby)  had  to  appear  on  the  porch  steps,  and 
solemnly  assure  the  citizens  thaL  no  union  was  dreamt 
of,  and  if  it  was  proposed,  that  they  would  be  the  first 
to  resist  it.  Public  spirit  had  evidenly  grown  bold  and 
confident,  and  we  can  well  believe  Secretary  Rigby  when 
he  writes  to  the  elder  Pitt,  that  "  the  mob "  declared, 
"  since  they  have  no  chance  of  numbers  in  the  house, 
they  must  have  recourse  to  numbers  out  of  doors."  f 

In  these  agitations  the  Irish  Catholics  could  take  no 
very  active  part.  Though  gradually  increasing  in  num- 
bers, and  still  nominally  possessed  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise, they  were  even  yet  "  as  insignificant  as  women 
and  children."  Like  the  oppressed  Israelites,  their  sor- 
row and  their  hope  was  in  their  offspring ;  like  them, 
also,  though  "wisely  oppressed,"  they  continued  to  in- 
crease in  a  greater  proportion  than  the  Protestant  popu- 
lation. In  the  conjectural  census  of  1747,  which  rated 
the  whole  population  at  four  millions  and  a  third,  the 
Catholics  were  admitted  to  be  three  millions  and  a  half. 
In  Ulster  they  had  clung  to  the  soil,  while  the  Presby- 
terian emigration  went  on.  In  Derry,  Armagh,  and  An- 
trim, they  were  now  equal  to  those  who  had  been  set 
over  them  in  the  preceding  century,  and  in  some  places 


^. 


Wf- 


*  Horace  Walpole's  Memoirs  of  George  II. 

t  Correspondence  in  Life  of  Orattftn,  tqI.  i.  p.  76. 


I 

*■ 


*  ■ 


220 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH    THE 


«•■ 


v^ 


they  already  exceeded  them.  This  ratio  the  northern 
Catholics  have  ever  since  maintained. 

In  Mayo,  in  1731,  it  was  reported  to  Parliament  that 
the  Catholics  were  "twelve  to  one;"  in  Kerry,  in  1733, 
they  were  "  one  hundred  to  one ; "  in  Kilkenny  and 
Mei^  the  disproportion  was  still  greater  in  favor  of  the 
Cat£[olics  —  in  some  parishes  "one  thousand  to  one." 
Through  the  three  provinces  the  ratio  was  thought  to 
be  (including  towns  and  cities)  "seven  to  one."*  It 
diows  the  powerlessnesB  of  mere  undisciplined  numbers, 
when  the  one  seventh  part  of  a  people  could  so  long 
and  so  ostentatiously  oppress  the  vast  remainder.  The 
minority,  however,  had  a  powerful  ally  in  England. 

While  this  was  the  state  of  parties,  and  politics,  Dr. 
Boulter  became  enamoured  of  the  double  glory  of  being 
the  legislator  and  apostle  of  his  generation.     Under  his 


*  The  tourists  to  Ireland,  in  this  and  the  succeeding  rdgn,  were, 
naturally  enough,  struck  with  this  disparity  of  ntunbeirs.  A  German, 
(Forince  Puckler  Muakan,)  gives  the  following  statistics  of  the  county 
Tipperary,  early  in  the  next  reign.    He  writes, — 

**  I  found  all  I  had  heard  of  the  actual  proportion  between  Protestant 
and  Catholic  fully  confirmed.  Among  other  informtfUon,  I  obtained  an 
■-  official  list  of  part  of  the  parishes  in  the  dioces^  of  Cashel. 

Catholics.        Protestants. 

Thurles  has  .    .  n^  ^, 

Cashel  .        .  ^'W^-  « 

*          Clonoulty  .        .        .        » 

Cappawhite  .  ^     .        .  .  '    . 

Bjllenaule  *.        .        .        . 

Bohurliw  ....<•      ,. 

Fethard  ...        •        • 

.    ilCiloommon 

Moykarkey  ...        •        • 

>^       Golden  .        .        .       '. 

■''-^-       Donaskeagh  .        ,        ^-      . 

t'        New  Inn  •        .       •        . 


12,000  . 

.  280 

11,000 

700 

5,142  . 

.   82 

2,800 

76 

7,040  . 

.  514 

5,000 

25 

7,600  . 

.  400 

2,400 

— 

7,000-  . 

.   80 

4,000 

120 

6,700  . 

.   90 

4,500 

.   .  80 

^' 


vJ, 


78,182  2,870 

"In  Kilcommon,  where  there  is  not  a  single  Protestant  parishioner, 
the  service,  which,  according  to  law,  must  be  performed  once  a  year,  is 
enacted  in  the  ruins  with  the  help  of  a  Catholic  clerk.  In  another, 
called  Tullemaine,  the  same  farce  took  place.  But  not  a  whit  the  less 
must  the  jLon-attending  parishioners  pay  the  utmost  farthing  of  their  tithes 
and  other  dues  ;  and  no  claims  are  so  bitterly  enforced  as  those  of  this 

Christian  church.    There  is  no  pitj— -at  least  none  for  the  CatixoUcs." 

,„  -■-,-iisy:.;;'.,..„*.:.r,-^.,„ 


% 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND.      221 

ausptces  schools  to  ^  ^ely%e  the  Catholic  yonth  were 
regularly  established  j.nd  an  "  Incorporated  Society " 
founded  by  law,  in  1733,  for  the  control  and  support  of 
the  schools. 

This  plan  of  making  Irish  Protestants  was  not  new. 
Both  Henry  and  Elizabeth  had  legislated  upon  it-->*had 
enacted  that  the  schools  should  be  placed  under  the  new 
clergy,  out  of  whose  income  the  expenses  were  to  be 
taken.  ^_  The  parsons  did  not  reMsh  this  method  of 
spreading  the  gospel,  and  paying  for  it  beside.  Similar 
acts  of  the  seventh  of  William  and  the  second  and 
third  of  George  I.  failed  to  arouse  them  to  their  duties 
as  teachers,  and  Dr.  Boulter,  in  despair,  turned  for  a 
remedy  to  Parliament.  This  was  thought  to  be  found 
in  "  the  Incorporated  Society,"  whose  expenses  were  to 
be  taken  from  the  treasury,  while  engaged  in  the  good 
work  of  "  teaching  the  children  of  the  Popish  and  other 
natives."  The  motive  of  the  mover  is  well  put  by  him- 
self. "  One  of  the  most  likely  methods  we  can  think  of 
is,  if  possible,  instructing  and  converting  the  young 
generation  ;  for  instead  of  convnrting  those  that  are 
adult,  we  are  daily  losing*  many  of  our  meaner  people, 
who  go  off  to  Popery."  * 

Unfortunately  for  the  new  scheme,  the  controversy  con- 
cerning the  tithe  of  agistment  ragedinost  fiercely  at  this 
date.  The  landlords,  according  to  the  primate,  hated 
the  parsons  as  heartily  as  they  did  "  the  Popish  priests," 
while  the  former  "  accepted  whatever  they  could  get, 
and  very  few  of  them  ever  Went  to  their  livings  to 
do  their  duty."  During  th)s  agitation  and  the  progress 
of  laying  down  land  in  pasturage,  according  to  the  same 
competent  witness,  "a  great  part  of  the  churches  were 
neglected,  and  going  to  jruin,"  while  "  it  became  neces- 
sary to  give  as  many  as  six  or  seven  parishes  to  one 
incumbent,  in  order  to  enable  him  to  live."  After  de- 
voting a  dozen  years  to  the  advocacy  of  his  schools  and 
other  schemes,  the  energetic  Boulter  died,  at  London, 
in  1742.     He    had  tried  with   equal   ardor,    and   more 


*  Boulter's  Correspondence. 

19* 


Letters  from  1730  to  1737. 


.%>*. 


-t 


222 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


authority,  the  plan  of  Usher,  Daniel,  and  Bedell,  but  with 
scanty  success.  Though  he  did  not  succeed  in  reaping 
the  harvest  of  perversion,  he  has  made  that  mode  of 
cultivation  fashionable,  and  henceforth  we  find  "  charter 
schools''  a  fundamental  part  of  England's  policy  in 
Ireland.  , 

The  new  system  could  not  complain  of  any  scarcity 
of  supplies.  Their  annual  grants  from  Parliament  were 
nearly  equal  to  eighty  thousand  pounds  per  year.*  In 
addition  to  this,  they  had  many  bequests.  A  Baron 
Vryhaven  left  them  fifty-six  thousand  pounds ;  the 
Earl  of  Ranelagh  bequeathed  them  valuable  real  estate ; 
an  anonymous  benefactor  left  them  forty  thousand 
pounds ;  and  many  other  well-disposed  people  smaller 
legacies.  The  "  Incorporated  Society  "  was  thus  enabled 
to  do  a  great  deal,  so  far  as  money  went.  Still  their 
.  schools  progressed  but  slowly.  In  1771,  they  had  but 
fifty-two  altogether,  educating  only  two  thousand  and 
thirty-five  children.  In  1775,  the  society  made  a  by-law 
that  "  none  but  Popish  children  "  should  be  admitted  to 
the  schools  —  thus  avowing  and  insuring  their  prose- 
lytizing purpose.  The  treatment  of  the  poor  little  Cath- 
olics in  these  places  was  inhuman  to  the  last  degree. 
Here  surely  was  a  vantage  ground  and  crowning  mercy 
for  Protestantism.  There  were  no  other  schools  tol- 
erated but  their  own,  and  their  own  had  the  public 
treasury  for  a  revenue.  If  ever  the  Irish  were  to  be 
converted,  this  was  the  time,  and  these  were  the  means. 
But  what  was  the  result  ?  The  system  not  only  failed, 
but  in  its  failure  demonstrated  anew  the  utter  hollow- 
ness  and  heartlessness  of  the  Anglican  schism.  It  es- 
caped for  a  time  unexposed.  A  Protestant  Parliament 
voted  the  supplies,  ordered  the  reports  to  be  printed, 
and  took  no  further  interest  in  the  matter.  At  length,  a 
great  philanthropist,  the  humane  Howard,  visited  Ireland 
on  his  "  circumnavigation  of  charity."  The  committees 
of  Parliament  received  him  with  respect,  and  inany 
_ 

•  Parliamentary  Report,  1809,  states  that,  from  1730  to  1820,  they  had 
reoeiyed  one  millioa  six  hundred  thousand  pounds. 


^*4 


^#' 


.  * 


:'S»' 


PROTESTANt    RfiFORBlATION    IN    IRELAND. 


223 


'•ft.*,  1 .  1 


improvements  in  prisons  and  hospitals  were  made  at 
his  suggestion.  He  brought  the  subject  of  the  charter 
schools  to  the  attention  of  Parliament.  In  1787,  they 
ordered  an  inquiry,  and  found  that,  of  twenty-one  hun- 
dred scholars  reported,  only  fourteen  hundred  could  be 
produced.  Howard  and  Sir  Jeremiah  Fitzpatrick,  in^ 
spector  of  prisons,  served  on  the  commission,  and  were 
examined.  Both  stated  that  the  children  "  were  in  gen- 
eral filthy  and  ill  clothed;"  that  "the  diet  was  insuffi- 
cient for  the  support  of  their  delicate  frames ; "  that 
many  of  the  schools,  "were  going  to  ruin  ;**  that  many 
of  the  scholars  "were  without  shifts  or  shirts^  and  in 
such  a  condition  as  was  indecent  to  look  on."  Howard 
concluded  his  evidence  by  asserting  that  "  the  children 
in  general  were  sickly,  pale,  and  such  miserable  objects 
that  they  were  a  disgrace  to  all  society,  and  their  reading 
had  been  neglected  for  the  purpose  of  making  them 
work  for  their  masters."  This  was  the  ripe  result  of  Dr.' 
Boulter's  schools,  which,  however,  lived  on  in  their  rot-^ 
tenness  and  pretences  for  half  a  century  longer.  The 
shameless  tenacity  with  which  they  were  defended  shows 
how  entirely  pride  and  prejudice  were  the  guides  and 
governors  of  the  Irish  establishment. 

Besides  the  charter  schools,  there  were  a  few  schools 
of  immediate  royal  origin.  Charles  I.  founded  seven 
of  these,  —  at  Armagh,  Dungannon,  Enniskillen,  Ra- 
phoe,  Cavan,  Banagher,  and  Carysford,  and  endowed 
them  with  thirteen  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  acres  of  land  in  Ulster  for  their  maintenance. 
There  was  nothing  in  the  grant  giving  these  schools  a 
sectarian  object,  or  excluding  Catholic  teachers.  The 
administration,  however,  was  vested  in  the  Protestant 
archbishops  and  bishops,  who  took  care  to  make  the 
royal  schools  rivals  of  the  chartered  in  bigotry  and  inhu- 
manity. The  British  commissioners  for  inquiring  into 
the  state  of  education  in  Ireland  (in  1821)  found  that, 
"  with  the  single  exception  of  Carysford,  all  the  masters, 
and  several  of  the  assistants,  are  clergymen  of  the  estab- 
lished church."     The  original  intention  of  the  founder 


'W-  • 


234 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


<r^' 


evidently  was,  that  these  should  be  free  schools.  The 
masters,  on  the  contrary,  received  their  stipends,  and 
charged  the  scholars  beside !  In  1788,  the  seven  royal 
schools  had  ninety-eight  boarders,  seventy-five  day  schol- 
ars, and  thirty-eight  free  scholars.  With  a  rental,  in 
that  year,  of  thirty-nine  hundred  and  eighteen  pounds, 
they  contrived  to  educate  some  two  hun(ked  scholars  at 
a  charge  of  over  twenty  pounds  sterling  to  the  state,  and 
half  as  much  more  to  scholars  who  could  pay.  ,; 

The  other  proselytizing  schools  in  the  last  century 
were  "  the  Blue  Coat  School,"  founded  by  Charles  IL, 
whose  rental,  in  1810,  amounted  to  about  four  thou- 
sand pounds ;  the  Hibernian  School,  by  George  III., 
in  1769,  for  soldiers'  children,  which,  up  to  1826,  re- 
ceived, besides  its  rental,  (to  us  unknown,)  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-six  \ 
pounds  of  parliamentary  money ;  the  Hibernian  Marine 
School,  its  pendant,  founded  in  1771,  for  the  education  - 
of  the  children  of  decayed  sailors,  and  endowed  with 
lands  and  an  annual  grant  of  four  hundred  pounds  per 
annum.  * 

Here,  then,  were  surely  appliances  enough  for  "in- 
structing and  converting  the  young  generation."  Could 
Boulter  himself  desire  more  than  the  pious  house  of 
Brunswick  gave?  Yet,  after  a  generation  so  tempted 
has  passed,  the  Catholics  are  still  "seven  to  one"  in 
the  island.  Another  generation  passes,  and  the  ratio 
increases ;  another,  and  the  Catholics  are  fifty  to  one  in 
the  country,  and  thjree  to  one  in  the  cities ! 

All  this  time,  these  were  the  only  schools  tolerated  in 
the  land,  all  others  being  felonious.     Seditious  school- 
masters did,  indeed,  contrive  to  defy  the  law  in  holes 
and  corners,  especially   in   Munster.      Cork,  Limerick, 
and  Kerry  were  the  chief  seats  of  those  vagrant  acade-^t 
mies  called  "  hedge  schools."     They  had  neither  law  nor* 
revenues  to  sustain  theip,  but  still  they  had  "What  the 
charter  schools  wanted  —  plenty  of  pupils.     Some  snug , 
farmer  who  had  outlived  the  penal  storm  of  Anne's  reign    - 
would  give  his  barn  for  an  academy;  and  %<&%%  thQ; 


r 


.  / 


•:r:',^: 


:*'■■• 


*» 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND. 


225 


'tc 


learned  philomath  would  preside  over  his  motley  and 
eager  subjects.  Strange  contrasts  would  be  forever  pres- 
ent, but  their  commonness  caused  them  to  be  forgotten. 
Barefoot  boys,  stretched  on  the  grass  in  summer,  would 
wrestle  in  spirit  with  Aristotle,  or  chant  aloud  the  battle 
pieces  of  Homer;  by  the  winter's  sun,  or  the  firelight 
of  the  long,  dark  evenings,  they  would  recite  Cicero's 
sonorous  periods,  construct  diagrams,  or  give  out  gram- 
matical "  crans,"  some  of  which  even  the  awful  master 
could  not  solve.  Between  the  hedge  schoolmaster  and 
the  Jacobite  bard,  Latin  and  Irish  had,  for  that  century, 
much  more  currency  in  three  fourths  of  the  counties  than 
the  language  of  Swift  and  the  great  orators  of  the  Par- 
liament. The  peasantry,  traditional  devotees  of  faith 
and  learning,  hailed  the  vagrant  scholar  on  his  wry,  and 
felt  rejoiced  to  lodge  and  refresh  him.  Where  a  xamous 
^  "  master "  resided,  every  house  had  its  honored  "  gos- 
'  soon,"  whose  free  quarters  inadequately  expressed  the 
tenderness  of  the  people  for  "  the  poor  boys  who  came 
so  far  to  get  their  classics."  Munster  contended  with  the 
reformation  for  "  the  instruction  of  the  young  genera- 
tion," and  the  victory  was  clearly  with  Munster. 

With  the  consciousness  of  returning  power,  derived 
from  mere  increase  of  numbers,  the  policy  of  the  Cath- 
olics took  a  new  direction.  Men  began  to  speak  slight- 
ingly of  their  ancestors'  foolish  devotion  to  the  Stuarts. 
Those  who  had  stood  by  the  people  through  every  peril 
began  to  express  hope  in  the  future,  under  the  house  of 
*  Brunswick.  Catholics  like  Viscount  Taafe  and  Charles 
O'Conor,  towards  the  end  of  George  II.'s  reign,  struck 
the  new  chord  of  pppulaj  conviction.*  They  speak  in 
their  pamphlets  regretfully  and  respectfully  of  the  Stuarts, 
but  speak  of  them  as  gone,  as  forever  passed  away.  The 
polite  iMrd  Chesterfield,  when  viceroy,  perceived  and 
took  advantage  of  this  turning  of  the  tide.  He  connived 
at  Catholic  worship  in  Dublin, 'and  after  a  melancholy 
loss  of  life  by  the  falling  in  of  a  garret  in  Cooke  Street, 
where  mass  was  said,  he  permitted  the  erection  of  9. 


«    • 


*  Hibexnia  Colleotanea.    DubUn,  1789. 


926 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH   THE 


up: 


ohapel  or  two  in  that  city.*  Acting  on  his  own  morality 
of  dissimulation,  he  even  held  out  a  vague  prospect 
of  the  abolition  of  part  of  the  penal  code,  and  of  the 
tithe  impost,  and  by  "  closeting  and  claret,"  succeeded 
in  conciliating  some  leading  Catholics ;  for  once  more 
there  are  such  persons  as  leading  Catholics. 

Except  Dr.  8tone,  there  was  no  very  zealous  or  formi- 
dable man  among  the  Protestant  hierarchy  after  Boulter's 
death.  If  we  may  judge  of  them  by  the  report  of 
Swift,  the  bishops  of  the  establishment  were  among  the 
most  servile  and  worthless  of  mankind. 


«  Of  whom  there  are  not  four  at  most 
Who  know  there  is  a  Holy  Ghost ; 
And  when  they  boast  they  have  conferred  it 
Like  Paul's  Ephesians,  never  heard  it ; 
And  when  they  gav<j  it,  'tis  well  known, 
Thoy  gave  what  never  was  their  own." 


4 


In  another  piece,  he  gives  them  a  gratuitous  advice. 

"  Let  prelates  by  their  good  behavior 
Convince  us  thev  believe  a  Savior ;  «s  ^ 

Nor  sell,  what  they  so  dearly  bought,  ^^  ■; 

This  country,  not  their  own,  for  nought."  , 

» 
While  they  were  intriguing  for  power  and  patronage, 
the  true  bishops  were  gradually  repairing  the  fences  of 
the  fold,  and,  with  the  chief  laymen  of  their  community, 
were  weaning  the  fond  hearts  of  the  poor  people  from 
the  Stuarts,  preparatory  to  a  more  political  loyalty.  In 
this  design,  events  abroad  admonished  and  directed  them. 
One  of  these  events  —  the  Scotch  expedition  of  Charles 
Edward  —  makes  an  era  in  this  history,  and  from  its  in- 
fluence, as  a  demonstration,  on  their  after  course,  needs 
to  be  well  considered  in  connection  with  the  reign  of 
George  II.  ^  ^ 

The  rupture  between  England  and  Spain,  in  i739,  ex-' 
cited  the  sanguine  partisans  of  the  Stuarts,  aiiiJ,  when 
Austria  and  France  joined  in  the  contest,  their  hopes  of 
another  restoration  rose  still  higher.     In  1744,  the  young 


■/r 


«  Life  of  Lord  Chesterfield. 


:,-,r.,-:^.:. 


"'     ,(•■ 


<Sb:' 


_  >' 


Vf>/v^4>ESTANT    RBPOaMATION   IN   ISBLAND. 


227 


<*►• 


chevalier)  Charlea  Edward,  then  in  his  24th  year^  was 
actually  on  board  a  French  fleet  with  fifteen  thoasand 
men,  and  Saxe  for  general,  when  a  storm  drove  the  ships 
ashore,  and  gave  the  ministers  at  Paris  an  interval,  m 
which  they  decided  to  abandon  *  the  expedition.  The 
battle  of  Fontenoy,  by  opening  the  prospect  of  another 
treaty  as  advantageous  as  that  of  Utrecht,  still  further 
disinclined  them  towards  their  first  project,  and  left  the 
brave  young  prince  with  private  means  and  littlfe  prepa* 
ration  to  attempt  the  invasion  or  abandon  it. 

The  expedition  of  1745,  such  as  it  was,  was  under* 
taken  and  conducted  by  Irish  aid,  quite  as  much  as 
French*  or  Scottish.  The  chief  parties  to  it  were,  besides 
the  old  Marquis  of  Tullibardine  and  the  young  Duke  of 
Perth,  the  Waterses,  father  and  son.  Irish  bankers  at 
Paris,  who  advanced  a  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
livres  between  them ;  Walsh,  an  Irish  merchant  at  Nantz^ 
who  put  a  privateer  of  eighteen  giins  into  the  venture ; 
Sir  Thomas  Geraldine,  the  agent  at  Paris ;  Sir  Thomas 
Sheridan,  the  princess  preceptor,  who,  with  Colonels 
O' Sullivan  Stapleton,  Lynch,  Lally,  and  other  officers 
of  the  brigade,  formed  the  staff,  on  which  Sir  John  Mc- 
Donald, a  Scottish  officer  in  the  Spanish  service,  was  also 
placed.  Fathers  Kelly  and  O'Brien  also  volunteered  in 
the  expedition.  On  the  22d  of  June,  1745,  with  seven 
friends,  the  prince  embarked  in  Walsh's  vessel,  called  the 
Doutellcj  at  St.  Nazaire,  in  the  Loire,  and  on  the  19th 
of  July,  landed  on  the  northern  coast  of  Scotland,  near 
Moidart.  The  Scottish  chiefs,  little  consulted  or  consid« 
ered  beforehand,  came  slowly  and  dubiously  to  the  land-* 
ing-place.  Under  their  patriarchal  control  there  were 
about  a  hundred  thousana  Highlanders,  or  one  twelfth  of 
the  Scottish  population.  Clanranald,  Cameron  of  Lo* 
chiel,  this  Laird  of  McLeod,  and  a  few  others  having 
joined  him,  the  standard  was  unfurled  on  the  19th  of 
August,  at  Glenfinin,  where  that  evening  twelve  hundred 
men  — » the  entire  army  so  far  —  Were  formed  into  camp^ 
under  the  orders  of  O' Sullivan.  From  that  day  until 
the  day  of  Culloden,  O' Sullivan  seems  to  have  manceU'* 
vred  the  prince's  forces*    At  Perth^  at  £dinburgh,  at 


s 


#' 


M: 


■■i^'f  ■ 


ATTEMPTS  TO   1S8TABLIBR   TI1£ 


6 


Preston)  at  Manchester)  at  Culloden)  he  takes  command 
in  the  field,  or  in  garrison ;  and  even  after  the  sad  re* 
Biilt,  he  adheres  to  his  sovereign's  son  with  proverbial 
fidelity. 

Charles,  on  his  part,  pat  full  confidence  in  his  Irish 
officers,  and  adopted  such  a  programme  as  they  could 
respect.  In  his  proclamation  after  the  battle  of  Preston, 
he  declared  it  was  not  his  intention  to  enforce  on  the 
people  'of  England,  Scotland,  or  Ireland,  "  a  religion* 
they  disliked."  In  a  subsequent  paper,  he  asks,  "  Have 
you  found  reason  to  love  and  cherish  your  governors  as 
the  fathers  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  ? 
Has  a  family  upon  whom  a  faction  unlawfully  bestowed 
the  diadem  of  a  rightful  prince,  retained  a  due  sense  of 
BO  great  a  trust  and  favor  ?  "  These  and  his  other  proc- 
lamations betray  an  Iri^h  pen;  probably  Sir  Thomas 
Sheridan's.  One  of  C^.arles'8  English  adherents.  Lord 
Elcho,  who  kept  a  journal,  notes  down,  complainingly, 
the  Irish  influence  under  which  he  acted.  "  The  prince 
and  his  old  governor,  Sir  Thomas  Sheridan,''  are  specially 
objected  to,  and  other  "  Irish  favorites,"  his  officers,  are 
censured  in  a  body.*  "While  at  Edinburgh,  a  French 
ship,  containing  some  arms,  supplies,  and  "  Irish  officv?rs," 
arrived,  and  with  the  five  thousand  men  gathered  by  the 
end  of  October,  they  proceeded  to  invade  England. 

Simultaneously,  efforts  were  made  to  recruit  for  the 
prince  in  Ireland ;  but  the  agents  being  taken  in  some 
cases,  and  the  people  not  very  eager  to  join  the  service, 
that  resource  was  closed. 

The  Irish  in  France,  as  if  to  cover  the  inaction  of 
their  countrymen  at  home,  strained  every  nerve.  The 
Waterses  and  O'Brien  of  Paris  were  the  bankers  of  the 
expedition.  Into  their  hands  James  "exhausted  his 
treasury  "  to  support  his  gallant  son.  At  Fontainebleau, 
on  the  23d  of  October,  Colonel  O'Brien,  on  the  part  of 
the  prince,  and  the  Marquis  D' Argeusson  for  Louis  XV., 
formed  a  treaty  of  "  friendship  and  alliance."  One  of 
the  clauses  of  this  compact  was,  that  some  of  the  Irish 


III!     ifcafcMXblM. 


Ghamben'B  Soiottwh  lusiineotion  of  174(>> 


^^^^ 


PROTlSBtANt    R&POttMATlON    IN    IRBLANO. 


2^ 


.# 


Vegiments  in  France,  and  other  troops,  should  be  sent  to 
sustain  the  expedition.  Under  Lord  John  Drummond 
a  thousand  men  were  shipped  from  Dunkirk,  and  arrived 
at  Montrose  in  the  Highlands  about  the  time  Charles 
Was  at  Manchester.  The  officers,  with  the  prince,  in 
council,  refused  to  advance  on  London  with  so  small  a 
force ;  a  retreat  was  decided  on ;  the  sturdy  defence  of 
Carlisle  and  victory  of  Falkirk  checked  the  pursuit ;  but 

■  the  overwhelming  force  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland 
compelled  them  to  evacuate  Edinburgh,  Perth,  and  Glas- 
gow—operations which  consumed  February,  March, 
and  the  nrst  half  of  April,  1746. 

The  next  plan  of  operations  seems  to  have  been  to 
occupy  and  concentrate  in  the  Highlands,  with  Inverness 
for  head-quarters.  The  town  Charles  easily  got,  but 
Fort  George,  a  powerful  fortress,  (built  upon  the  site  of 
the  castle  where  Macbeth  is  said  to  have  murdered  Dun- 
can,) commanded  the  Lough.  Stapleton  and  the  Irish 
pickets,  however,  captured  it,  and  also  the  neighboring 
Fort  Augustus.  Joined  by  some  Highlanders,  they  next 
attempted  Fort  William,  the  last  fortress  of  King  George 
in  the  north,  but  on  the  3d  of  April  were  recalled  to  the 
main  body. 

n*  To  cover  Inverness,  his  principal  dependence,  Charles 
resolved  to  give  battle**  The  ground,  flanked  by  the  River 
Nairn,  was  spotted  with  marsh  and  very  irregnlar.  It 
was  called  Culioden,  and  was  chosen  by  O' Sullivan. 
Brigadier  Stapleton,  another  Irish  officer,  and  Colonel 
Ker  reported  against  it,  as  a  field ;  but  Charles  adopted 
O'Sullivan's  opinion  of  its  fitness  for  Highland  warfare. 

^When  the  preparations  for  battle  began,  "  many  voices 
exclaimed,  *  WeUl  give  Cumberland  another  Fontenoy ! '" 
The  Jacobites  were  placed  in  position  by  O'SuUivan, "  at 
once  their  adjutant  and  quartermaster  general,"  and,  as 
the  burghers  of  Preston  thought,  "a  very  likely  fellow.'* 
He  formed  two  lines,  the  great  .clans  being  in  the  first,  the 


*  **  It  has  been  insinuated  thftt  Charles  was  here  guided  by  his  tutor* 
Sheridan,  and  the  French  officers,"  says  Chambers,  who  adds  that 
**  the  chief  reason  "  was  his  <^  general  anidety  fi>r  fighting." 

80 


980 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH    THE 


OgilvieS)  Gordons)  and  Murrays ;  the  French  and  Irish 
in  the  second.  Four  pieces  of  cannon  flanked  each  wing, 
and  four  occupied  the  centre.  Lord  George  Murray  com* 
manded  the  right  wing,  Lord  John  Drummond  the  left 
and  Brigadier  Stapleton  the  reserve.  They  were  in  all 
under  five  thousand.  The  British  formed  in  three  lines, 
ten  thousand  strong,  with  two  guns  between  every  sec* 
ond  regiment  of  the  first  and  second  line.  The  action 
commenced  about  noon  of  April  16th,  and  before  even* 
ing  half  the  troops  of  Prince  Charles  lay  dead  on  the 
field,  and  the  rest  were  hopelessly  broken.  The  retreat 
was  pellmell,  except  where  "  a  troop  of  the  Irish  pickets, 
by  a  spirited  fire,  checked  the  pursuit,  which  a  body  of 
dragoons  commenced  after  the  Macdonalds,  and  Lord 
Lewis  Gordon's  regiments  did  similar  service."  Staple*, 
ton  conducted  the  French  and  Irish  remnant  to  Inver- 
ness, and  obtained  for  them  by  capitulation  '<  fair  quarter 
and  honorable  treatment." 

The  unhappy  prince  remained  on  the  field  almost  to 
the  last.  "  It  required,"  says  a  writer,  "  all  the  eloquence, 
and  indeed  all  the  active  exertions,  of  O' Sullivan  to  make 
C)iarleR  quit  the  field.  A  cornet  in  the  service,  when 
questioned  Upon  this  subject  at  the  poir?t  of  death,  de*, 
clared  he  saw  O'SuUivan,  after  using  "iitreaties  in  vain, 
turn  the  head  of  the  prince's  horse  and  drag  him  away.* 

From  that  night  forth,  O' Sullivan,  O'Neil,  and  a  poor 
sedan  carrier  of  Edinburgh,  called  Burke,  accompanied 
him  in  all  his  wanderings  and  adventures  among  the 
Scottish  islands.  At  the  Long  Island  they  were  obliged 
to  part,  the  prince  proceeding  alone  with  Miss  Flora 
McDonald.  He  had  not  long  left,  when  a  French  cut- 
ter hove  in  sight  and  took  on  O'Sullivan,  intending  to 
touch  at  another  point,  and  take  in  the  prince  an^. 
O'Neil.  The  same  night  she  was  blown  off  the  coap  , 
and  the  prince,  after  many  other  adventures,  was  finaLj 
taken  off  at  Badenoch,  on  the  15th  of  September,  by  the 
L'Hereux,  a  French  armed  vessel,  in  which  Captain 
Sheridan,  (son  of  V'r  Thomas,)  Mr.  O'Beirne,  a  lieuten- 


*  Uusuv  »fl,r  B<rf»wi  No.  71< 


:%iis= 


V 


vv 


PROTESTANT   REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND. 


3di 


ant  in  the  French  army,  **  and  tv.  o  other  gentlemen  **  had 
adventured,  in  search  of  him. 

Poor  O'Neil,  in  seeking  to  'p^join  his  master,  was 
taken  prisoner,  carried  to  London,  and  is  lost  from  the 
record.  O'Sullivan  reached  Fnnce  saldy,  where,  with 
Stapleton,  Lynch,  and  the  other  Irish  and  Scotch  ()i!icers, 
he  was  cordially  welcomed. 

Such  was  the  last  struggle  of  the  Stuarts.     For  years 

•after,  the  popular  imagination  in  both  countries  clung 

fondly  tc  ^\  ace  Charles.     But  the  cause  was  dead.    To 

burv   yt.  ftt    .r,   Charles,  in   despair,   grew   dissipated 

an«)  le;  jjond.ng.     In  1755,  "the  British  Jacobites"  sent 

Colvn      McNamara,  as  their  agent,  to  induce  him  to 

f>  it  away  his  mistress.  Miss  Walsmgham ;  but  he  refused. 

in  1766,  when  James  III.  died  at  Avignon,  the  French 

and  tho  pope  refused  to  acknowledge  the  prince  by  the 

title  of  Charles  III.     When  the  latter  died,  in  1788,  at 

Rome,  Cardinal  York  contented  himself  with  having  a 

medal  struck,  with  the  inscription  "  Henrlcus  IX.,  Anglice 

Rex."     In  1800,  when  driven  from  Rome  by  the  French 

arms,  he  accepted  a  stipend  of  four  thousand  pounds 

from  George  III,  which  he  continued  to  receive  till  his 

death,  in  1808.     He  was  the  last  of  the  Stuarts. 

V  During  1745  and  1746,  Chesterlielu  *he  Irish  viceroy, 

contented  himself  with  some  precautionary  proclama^ 

tions  against  recruiting  without  license,  rewards  for  the 

apprehension  of  rebel  chiefs,  and  such  paper  defences. 

There  was  no  need  for  more.     The  Catholic  people  were 

in  little  better  condition  than  they  had  been  in  1715. 

Without  officers  or  arms,  what  could  they  do  but  wait 

and  watch  ?     To  say  that  any  sense  of  new-born  loyalty 

kept  them  peaceable,  is  to  assert  what  was  not  the  fact. 

Tf  th«3iti  had  been  ten  or  tvirenty  thousand  Jacobites  in  any 

part,  or  all  Ireland,  comparatively  as  well  armed  as  the 

Highlanders,  there  would  have  been  battles  for  Prince 

Charles  as  well  on  Irish  as  on  Scottish  soil.    The  double 

failure  of  father  and  son,  in  neither  of  which  the  Irish  at 

home  were  concerned,  the  self-abandonment  of  the  brave 

prince,  and  the  growth  of  native  parties  and  politics^ 

Weaned  Ireland  away  from  her  ancient  loyalty.    Hence, 


'€.... 


^ 


% 


3^2 


M 


ATTEMPTS    TO  ESTABLISH   THE 


at  the  accession  of  George  III.,  we  are  presented  with 
an  entirely  new  state  of  facts,  in  the  relations  of  the 
Catholic  population  and  the  house  of  Brunswick. 


•4* 

4> 


.^"■-'» 


1-. 


CHAPTER   n.  ij-^ 

StTATE  OF  tltELAND  AT  THE  ACCESSION  OF  6E0BGE  III FUBLIGA- 

TIONS  ON    THE  CATHOLIC    QUESTION THE    GREAT  FAMINE.— 

.'Jt  CATHOLIC   COMMITTEES   FOR  PETITIONING   PARLIAMENT.  —  PRO- 

I    POSED  RELIEF  BILL  OP  1763.— RUMORED    FRENCH   INVASION — 

'   AGRARIANISM.  — MARTYRDOM  OF   FATHER    NICHOLAS    SHEEHY 

AND     HIS     FRIENDS.  —  SPREAD     OF     SECRET     SOCIETIES — THE 

METHODISTS   IN  IRELAND. 

From  the  year  made  memorable  by  the  battles  of 
Fontenoy  and  Culloden,*we  begin  to  trace  the  symptoms 
of  returning  life  among  the  Irish  Catholics.  In  that 
year  mass  was  tolerated,  and  the  premiums  on  priest- 
catching  abolished.  Chesterfield,  who  returned  to  Eng- 
land in  1747,  was  not  able  to  prevent,  although  he  tried 
hard  to  extinguish,  the  light  which  slowly  spread  over 
the  island.  Dr.  Lucas,  the  penman  of  the  patriot  party 
at  this  period,  in  his  addresses  to  the  citizens  of  Dublin, 
compares  the  sufferings  of  the  Catholics  to  those  endured 
by  the  South  Americans  from  their  Spanish  conquerors. 
Chief  Justice  Marlay,  who  represented  the  castle  party, 
;as  Irish  judges  usually  do,)  condescended,  in  his  charge 
to  the  Dublin  grand  juries,  in  1749,  to  say,  that  during 
the  late  rebellion,  the  Catholics  "not  only  preserved 
peace  at  home,  but  contributed  to  restore  it  in  Great 
Britain."  It  was  clear  that,  at  last,  a  prospect  for  dis- 
cussion was  opened.  Of  this  the  Dublin  patriots  and 
some  of  the  educated  Catholics  at  once  availed  them- 
selves. The  Dublin  press  was  exceedingly  active  in 
producing  new  pamphlets  and  reprints  bearing  on  the 
Catholic  question.  Eminent  among  the  writers  was 
Henry  Brooke,  a  native  of  Mullingar,  and  a  disciple  of 


■V 


(■ 


% 


m~ 


^ 


PROTESTANT   REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


233 


Wesley  or  Whitefield.  His  Farmer's  Letters  on  the 
case  of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  which  appeared  at  in- 
tervals from.  1750  to  1760,  are  among  the  beat  things 
ever  written  on  the  subject.  While  they  have  not  the 
brevity  or  sarcastic  power  of  Swift,  they  rival  the  Dra- 
pier's  essays  in  ease,  directness,  and  clearness  of  state- 
ment. Next  to  Brooke  in  effectiveness  was  Charles 
O'Connor  of  Belanagar,  the  son  of  that  frugal  recusant 
who  ploughed  his  fields  with  his-  own  hands,  to  set  his 
boys  an  example  of  industry.  Many  of  the  anonymous 
pamphlets  of  that  time  bear  the  impress  of  his  anti- 
quarian studies  and  his  masculine  English.  In  Dr. 
Curry,  of  Dublin,  the  Catholic  writers  found  a  vigorous 
ally.  Passing  a  Protestant  church,  while  the  congrega- 
tion were  coming  out,  after  a  furious  No  Popery  sermon, 
he  heard  "  a  young  lady  "  inquire  "  if  there  were  any  of  ' 
those  horrid  Papists  left  in  Ireland."  Th*  turned  his 
attention  to  historical  studies,  the  chief  result  of  which 
was  his  Review  of  the  Civil  Wars  of  Ireland,  published 
at  Dublin,  in  1757.  On  the  same  side.  Viscount  Taafe, 
long  distinguished  in  the  Austrian  service,  in  his  old  age 
permitted  to  return  to  Ireland,  published  his  "  Observa- 
tions on  the  Affairs  in  Ireland  from  1691  to  the  Present  | 
Time."  In  his  introductory  remarks,  he  writes,  "  Se- { 
questered  by  my  religion  from  my  seat  in  Parliament,  ^ 
and  stripped  of  most  of  the  privileges  of  an  Irish  peer, 
I  leave  this  pledge  of  affection  to  my  king,  to  my  coun-  * 
try,  and  our  present  free  constitution ;  and  I  may  still  be 
useful,  if  the  time  is  corner  as  I  trust  it  is,  when  true  in- 
formation can  dare  encounter  every  favorite  error,  and 
when  prejudices  equally  worthless  and  unsociable  are 
renounced  in  favor  of  maxims  which  experience  has 
shown  to  be  the  lessons  of  nature,  and  which  alone  can 
render  nations  happy."  The  whole  of  this  pamphlet  is 
in  the  same  subdued  but  manly  style.  The  concluding 
reflections  are  worthy  of  remembrance  under  all  circum- 
stances. "  In  a  state  of  suffering,"  he  says,  "  Christians 
often  fill  their  proper  post ;  and  of  that  post  s^lf-denial 
is  the  outguard.  A  state  of  prosperity  is  the  state  of 
danger,  often  as  fatal  as  it  is  flattering.  Let  us  not^ 
20* 


^t^: 


234 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH  ,TiUB 


• 


therefore,  lose  the  merit  of  the  sacrifice  we  make  —  that 
of  worldly  advantages;  —  the  bitterest  acquisitions  on 
earth,  should  we  acquire  them  by  dissimulation,  or,  in 
other  words,  by  the  renunciation  of  principles,  which  are 
the  best  tests  of  human  probity.  Sincerity,  insulted  and 
punished  sincerity,  is  a  source  of  comfort  in  the  world  we 
inhabit.  If  we  act  in  a  manner  unworthy  of  this  virtue, 
we  are  undone ;  we  lose  the  merit  of  our  sufferings ;  and 
thus,  criminal  towards  God,  how  can  we  presume  on 
favors  from  the  governors  he  hath  set  over  us?"*  *« 
The  proscription  of  the  manufactures  of  Ireland  by 
William,  and  the  proscription  of  Irish  tillage  in  Anne's 
time,  had  produced  their  natural  consequences.  In  1727, 
1728,  and  1729,  famine  raged  among  the  peasantry,  con- 
demned to  a  pastoral  state,  in  an  artificial  age ;  in  1740 
and  1741,  and  in  1745,  it  returned,  and  in  the  winter  of 
1756,  and  the  spring  of  1757 :  within  the  decade  half  a 
million  perished  for  lack  of  food.  Yet,  after  all,  says  a 
well-informed  writer,  "  the  Roman  Catholics  are  at  least 
as  numerous  as  they  were  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne."  f 
During  this  famine,  the  new  viceroy,  John,  Duke  of  Bed- 
ford, arrived  in  Ireland,  having  with  him  a  "  king's  let- 
ter," empowering  him  to  expend  £20,000  in  relief  of  the 
sufferers.  "  Aft«r  the  reduction  of  one  fifth  of  the  poou- 
iation,"  says  Charles  O'Connor,  "a  productive  harvest 
put  an  end  to  these  distresses.  The  system  of  persecu- 
tion revived  with  the  reviving  strength  and  growing 
property  of  the  country.  The  Catholics  were  every 
where  disarmed,  domiciliary  visits  were  made  in  quest 
of  priests  and  friars,  and  a  cruel  persecution  commenced 
in  every  quarter  of  the  kingdom."    These  measures  were 


♦  We  have  seen  a  collection  of  the  pamphlets  published  at  Dublin 
chiefly  on  the  Catholic  question,  between  the  years  1750  and  1760, 
amounting  to  ten  or  a  dozen  volumes. 

t  This  writer,  in  his  work,  the  Protestant  Interest  considered  rel- 
atively to  the  Popery  Laws,  (Dublin,  1757,)  vividly  describes  the  famine 
he  had  seen.  ••  A  dreadful  spectacle  this  !  wherein  the  living,  unfit  for 
any  other  labor,  were  employed  in  burying  the  dead ;  thp  last  and 
mournful  office  of  fainting  numbers,  who  expected,  and  wantedf  the  like 
tender  care  in  a  few  days."  —  Protestant  Interest,  p.  30. 


■n 


^:sH. 


■.:.-^. 


I    * 


PROTESTANT  HEFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


23^ 


taken  upon  rumors  of  a  French  'invasion,  which,  in 
1758,  circulated  generally  through  England  and  Ireland. 
In  1757,  the  first  "Catholic  Association,"  or  "  Cora- 
inittee,"  was  privately  formed,  at  the  Elephant  Tavern, 
Essex  Street,  Dublin.  At  the  head  of  tfaos  movement 
was  Charles  O'Connor.  This  distinguished  man  was 
born  and  bred  up  among  the  frightful  evidences  of  the 
penal  code.  "  In  1732,"  says  his  biographer,  "  a  proc- 
lamation was  issued  against  the  Roman  Catholic 
clergy,  and  the  degree  of  violence  with  which  it  was 
enforced  made  many  of  the  old  natives  look  seriously, 
as  a  last  resource,  to  emigration.  Bishop  O'Rorke  re- 
tired from  Belanagar,  and  the  gentlemen  of  that  neigh- 
borhood had  no  clergyman  for  a  considerable  time  to 
give  them  mass,  but  a  poor  old  man  named  Pendergast, 
who,  before  daydawn,  on  Sunday,  crept  into  a  cave  in 
the  parish  of  Baslick,  and  waited  there  for  his  congrega- 
tion, in  cold  and  wet  weather,  hunger  and  thirst,  to 
preach  to  thetn  patience  under  their  afflictions,  and  per- 
severance in  their  principles  ;  to  offer  up  prayers  for  their 
persecutors,  and  to  arm  them  with  resignation  to  the 
will  of  Heaven.  The  cave  is  called  Pool-an-Aiffrin,  or 
Mass  Cave,  till  tbis  day."  *  Under  auspices  such  as 
these  Charles  O'Connor  came  of  age  — a  studious,  re- 
flective, and  deliberating  man.  Some  of  his  early  pub- 
lications on  Irish  history  obtained  him  general  reputa- 
tion —  the  thanks  and  correspondence,  among  others,  of 
Samuel  Johnson.  In  1770,  he  published  the  map  of 
Ireland,  showing  the  territories  of  the  several  clans,  first 
issued  by  Ortellius  of  Antwerp,  in  the  16th  century. 
This  publication  caused  an  outcry  for  the  time,  that  the 
Catholics  were  preparing  for  the  restoration  of  the  old 
estates.  But  this  storm  blew  over,  and  the  venerable 
antiquary  of  Belanagar  lived  to  see  the  work  of  Cath- 
olic emancipation,  as  well  as  of  Irish  literature,  progress- 
ing beyond  belief  or  expectation.  Of  both  movements  he 
might  well  be  called  «  father."  With  Mr.  O'Connor,  in 
the  formation  of  the  Association  of  1757,  the  principal 

*  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Charles  O'Connor,  voL  L  p.  179* 


..^,.ju£u 


236 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


persons  were,  Dr.  Curry,  of  Dublin,  before  mentioned^ 
and  Mr.  Wyse,  of  Waterford,  a  successful  merchantk 
"  This  gentleman,"  (says  the  author  of  the  Protestant 
Interest  Considered^)  "at  an  expense  to  which  few 
private  fortunes  are  equal,  hath  introduced  useful  arts 
into  this  kingdom ;  and  if  he  failed  in  any,  it  was  not 
from  any  impractibility  in  the  scheme  itself,  but  from 
the  want  of  that  assistance  which  ambition  for  the  publio 
interest  should  never  be  destitute  of."  *  To  these  three 
gentlemen,  more  especially  to  the  first,  belongs  the  merit 
of  the  first  legal  resistance  to  the  penal  code  since  Sir 
Toby  Butler's  time ;  and  the  lirst  attempt  at  a  peaceable 
organization  of  the  scattered  strength  of  the  Catholics. 
;»  The  greatest  obstacle  of  the  new  leaders  was  the 
rooted  indifference  of  many  of  the  Catholics  themselves. 
"  Too  many  among  this  party,"  says  an  anonymous 
Catholic  writer,  in  1755,  "  are  grown  listless  and  indiffer- 
ent, with  regard  to  pain  or  liberty ;  like  men  long  confined, 
they  soothe  themselves  into  an  unmanly  stupefaction, 
grow  regardless  of  all  events,  and  think  of  nothing 
above  or  beyond  the  present  condition.  Let  this  politi- 
cal apathy  be  never  so  general,  it  ought  to  be  shaken  off. 
No  merit  can  result  from  the  silence  of  grievances  which 
ought  to  be  known  to  the  public,  as  it  is  affected  by 
them ;  and  known  to  the  legislature  also,  as  that  alone 
can  redress  them.  What,  then,  have  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics for  fear  ?"  f  •      V  -^Ka^j 

In  1758,  the  rumors  of  a  projected  French  invasion 
under  Conflans  caused  the  Catholic  body  to  rise  into 
favor  with  the  house  of  Hanover.  John,  Duke  of  Bed- 
ford, the  viceroy,  acted  upon  instructions  to  conciliate. 
The  next  year,  "  the  Roman  Catholic  gentlemen,  mer- 
chants, and  citizens  of  Dublin,"  in  an  address  to 
the  duke,  drafted  by  Bishop  O'Keefe,  of  Kildare, 
after  complimenting  the  reigning  family,  added,  "  We 
sincerely   assure    your   grace    that  we   are   ready   and 


•  Protestant  Interest  Considered,  p.  17- 

t  Case  of  the  Catholics,  addressed  to  Lord  Hartington.    Dublin,  F. 
Lord)  1766.  *  r^w** 


W 


^''' 


m 


■# 


*^^ 

,   -% 


PROTESTANT   REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND. 


237 


willing,  to  the  utmost  of  our  power,  to  assist  in  support- 
ing his  majesty's  government  against  all  hostile  attempts 
whatsoever."  In  his  reply,  the  viceroy  observed,  "  It 
gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  find  that  they  (the 
Catholics)  are  so  fully  sensible  of  the  lenity  which  hath 
been  extended  to  them  during  the  whole  course  of  his 
^  majesty's  reign  ;  and  they  may  be  assured,  that,  so  long 
as  they  conduct  themselves  with  duty  and  affection  to 
the  king,  they  will  not  fail  to  receive  his  majesty's  pro- 
"  teotion.'"  In  the  same  reply,  he  observed,  "  The  zeal  and 
attachment  they  profess  to  his  majesty's  person  and 
government  can  never  be  more  seasonably  manifested 
than  in  the  present  conjuncture."  The  Catholic  prelates 
were  not  slow  in  taking  this  hint.     Their  pastorals,  ex- 

*  horting  to  loyalty  and  peace,  were  read  from  every  altar ; 
and  when,  in  1760,  the  French  under  Thurot  landed  at 
Carrickfergas,*  —  their  first  visit  to   Ireland  for   about 

J  seventy  years, — -they  found  no  native  insurrection  on 
foot.     After  taking  the  town  and  castle,  and  waiting  in 
vain  for  auxiliaries,  they  put  to  sea,  were  attacked  by  a 
%     British  fleet  in  the  Channel,  when  their  ships  were  dis- 
*     persed,  and  Thurot  killed  in  the  action.     On  the  first 
^  report  of  the  landing  of  the  French,  the  Irish  Parliament 

*  had  promptly  raised  six  regiments  of  foot,  and  a  troop 
of  horse;  they  also  voted  .£150,000  for  the  public  ser- 
vice, and  later  in  the  same  session  £300,000.  The  sums 
were  expended,  but  the  new  levies  were  not  called  into 
the  field.  The  accession  of  George  III.,  the  same  year, 
called  out  fresh  Catholic  addresses,  which,  in  1761  and 
1762,  were  repeated,  with  little  variation  of  terms,  or 
purport.  The  eighth  year  of  this  reign  is  remarkable  as 
the  date  of  the  first  Catholic  relief  bill,  which  passed  the 
Irish  Parliament — an  act  for  empowering  Catholics  to 
loan  money  on  real  estate  mortgage.  The  Irish  houses 
passed  it  without  a  division,  but  it  was  rejected  by  the 
king  in  council.  The  first  relief  bill  which  became  law 
dates  only  from  1774. 


M 


J 


*  Thurot,  an  old  privateer,  or  better  sort  of  smuggler,  was  long  fa- 
miliar with  the  Channel.  He  passed  the  year  1750  in  CarUngford,  and 
learned  the  English  language  there. — Dvblin  Ptnny  Journal  for  1832, 
p.  33. 


238 


■  *  .^%^. 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH    'f'HE 


A«' 


S      •^^ 


Before  coming  to  that  point  of  time,  we  must  not 
overlook  the  agrarian  combinations  of  the  ten  ydars,  of 
which  we  treat  in  this  chapter.  Four  famines  #ith in 
twenty  years  had  driven  the  peasantry  to  despdir.  Lord 
Taafe  has  well  described  one  element  in  their  altered 
condition.     "  No  sooner,"  he  says,  — 

"  Were   the    Catholics    excluded    from   durable   and 

<  profitable  tenures,  than  they  commenced  graziers,  and 

<  laid    aside    agriculture ;    they   ceased   from   draining 

<  or  enclosing  their  farms  and  building  good  houses,  as 
occupations  unsuited  to  the  new  post  assigned  them  in 

*  our  national  economy.  They  fell  to  wasting  the  lands 
'  they  were  virtually  forbid  to  cultivate ;  the  business  of 

pasturage  being  compatible  with  such  conduct,  and  re- 

*  quiring  also  little  industry  and  still  less  labor  in  the  man- 
agement.   This  business,  moreover,  brings  quick  returns 

*  in  money ;  and  though  its  profits  be  smaller  than  those 

*  arising  from  agriculture,  yet  they  are  more  immediate, 
and  much  better  adapted  to  the  condition  of  men  who  are 

*  confined  to  a  fugitive  property,  which  can  so  readily  be 

*  transferred  from  one  country  to  another.     This  pastoral 

*  occupation  also  eludes  the  vigilance  of  our  present  race 

*  of  informers,  as  the  difficulty  of  ascertaining  a  grazier's 
profits  is  considerable,  and  as  the  proofs  of  his  enjoying 

*  more  than  a  third  penny  profit  cannot  so  easily  be  made 
clear  in  our  courts  of  law.     The  keeping  the  lands 

'  waste  also  prevents,  in  a  great  degree,  leases  in  rever- 
sion, which    Protestants  only  are   qualified   to   take; 

*  and  this  (by  the  small  temptation  to  such  reversions) 
'  gives  the  present  occupant  the  best  title  to  a  futiire 
'  renewal.  This  sort  of  self-defence,  in  keeping  the 
'  lands  uncultivated,  had  the  further  ill  consequence  of 

*  expelling  that  most  useful  body  of  people,  called  yeo- 
'  manry,  in  England,  and  which  we  denominated  Sou- 
'  loags,  in  Ireland.  Communities  of  industrious  house- 
'  keepers,  who,  in  my  own  time,  herded  together  in  large 
'  villages,  and  cultivated  the  lands  every  where,  lived 
'  comfortably,  until,  as  leases  expired,  some  rich  grazier 

*  negotiating  privately  with  a  sum  of  ready  money,  took 
these  lands  over  their  heads.     This^  is  a  fact  well 


w 


-■^7- 


^-'.i^-  **•■ . 


/      ; 


«l(l 


*4. 


PROTESTANT    REPbRMATIOX    IN    IRELAND. 


239 


^ 


'•ISi. 


**  luiown.  The  Bculoag  race,  that  great  nursery  of  labor- 
"  era  and  manufacturers,  has  been  broken  and  dispersed 
"  in  *very  quarter ;  and  we  have  nothing  in  lieu,  but  the 
"  most  miserable  wretches  on  earth,  the  cottagers ;  naked 
"  slaves,  who  labor  without  any  nourishing  food,  and 
"  live  while  they  can,  without  houses  or  covering,  under 
"  the  lash  of  merciless  and  relentless  taskmasters  I " 

Another  contemporary  author  gives  this  account  of  the 
origin  of  the  same  disturbances :  "  Some  landlords  in 
Munster  have  let  their  lands  to  cotters  far  above  their 
value,  and,  to  lighten  their  burden,  allowed  commonage 
to  their  tenants  by  way  of  recompense :  afterwards,  in 
despite  of  all  equity,  contrary  to  all  compacts,  the  land- 
lords enclosed  these  commons,  and  precluded  their  un- 
happy tenants  from  the  only  means  of  making  their 
bargains  tolerable."*  The  peasantry  of  Waterford, 
Cork,  and  other  southern  counties  met  in  tumultuous 
crowds,  and  demolished  the  new  enclosures.  The 
Protestant  Parliament  took  their  usual  cue  on  such  occa- 
sions: they  pronounced,  at  once,  that  the  cause  of  the 
riots  was  "  treason  against  the  state  ;  "  they  even  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  "  inquire  into  the  cause  and 
progress  of  the  Popish  insurrection  in  Munster."  Al- 
though the  London  Gazette,  on  the  authority  of  royal 
commissioners,  declared  that  the  rioters  "  consisted  in- 
discriminately of  persons  of  different  persuasions,"  the 
castle  bigots  would  have  it  to  be  'f  another  Popish  plot." 
Even  Lucas,  the  patriot  leader,  was  carried  away  by  the 
passions  of  the  hour,  and  declaimed  against  all  lenity, 
as  cowardly  and  criminal. 

A  large  military  force,  under  the  Marquis  of  Drogheda, 
was  despatched  to  the  south.  The  marquis  fixed  his 
head-quarters  at  Clogheen,  in  Tipperary,  the  parish 
priest  of  which  district  was  the  Rev.  Nicholas  Sheehy. 
The  magistracy  of  the  county,  especially  Sir  Thomas 
Maude,  William  Bagnel,  John  Bagwell,  Daniel  Toler, 
and  Parson  Hewetson,  were  among  the  chief  maintainers 


w 


*  An  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  of  the  Outrages  committed  by  the  Lev- 
tilers  or  Wbiteboys  in  Munster.    Dublin,  1762. 


jt^ 


m 

240  .J^'     ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE       <       -^  j| 


of  the  existence  of  a  Popish  plot,  to  bring  in  the  FrQiich 
and  the  pretender.  They  were  well  compared  by  Dr. 
Curry  to  Oates  and  his  corps;  except  that  it  pleased 
God  to  defeat  their  machinations,  with  less  loss  of  life 
than  followed  the  earlier  "  discoverers."  Father  Sheehy 
was  fixed  upon  as  their  first  victim:  largely  connected 
with  the  minor  gentry,  educated  in  France,  young, 
popular,  eloquent,  and  energetic,  a  stern  denouncer  of 
the  licentious  lives  of  the  squires,  and  of  the  exacting 
tithes  of  the  parsons,  he  was  particularly  obnoxious.  In 
1763,  he  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  for 
drilling  and  enrolling  Whiteboys,  but  was  acquitted. 
Towards  the  close  of  that  year.  Bridge,  one  of  the  late 
witnesses  against  him,  suddenly  disappeared.  A  charge 
of  murder  was  then  laid  against  the  priest  of  Clogheen, 
and  a  prostitute  named  Dunlea,  a  vagrant  lad  named  Lon- 
ergan,  and  a  convicted  horse  stealer  called  Toohey,  were 
produced  in  evidence  against  him,  after  he  had  lain 
nearly  a  year  in  prison,  heavily  fettered.  On  the  12th 
of  March,  he  was  tried  at  Clonmel,  on  this  evidence ;  and 
notwithstanding  an  alibi  was  proved,  he  was  condemned 
and  beheaded  on  the  third  day  afterwards.  Beside  the 
old  ruined  church  of  Shandragan  his  well-worn  tomb 
remains  till  this  day.  He  died  in  his  thirty-eighth  year. 
Two  months  later,  Edward  Sheehy,  his  cousin,  and  two 
respectable  young  farmers  named  Buxton  and  Farrell, 
were  executed  under  a  similar  charge,  and  upon  the 
same  testimony.  All  died  with  religious  firmness  and 
composure.  But  their  persecutors,  with  a  single  excep- 
tion, met  deaths  violent,  loathsome,  and  terrible.  Maude 
died  insane,  Bagwell  in  idiocy,  one  of  the  jury  commit- 
ted suicide,  another  was  found  dead  in  a  privy,  a  third 
was  killed  by  his  horse,  a  fourth  was  drowned,  a  fifth 
shot,  and  so  through  the  entire  list.  Toohey  was  hanged 
for  felony,  the  prostitute  Dunlea  fell  into  a  cellar  and 
was  killed,  and  the  lad  Lonergan,  after  enlisting  as  a 
soldier,  died  of  a  loathsome  disease  in  a  Dublin  in- 
firmary.* ^*~.-. 


#' 


*  Madden's  United  Irishmen,  Second  SerieSi  vol.  i.  Introduction,  p. 
Ixxxiv. 


W 

-..'.JS- 


,nd 


a 


.  P- 


f 
-« 


PROTESTAI^T    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


241 


•*»  In  1767,  an  attempt  to  continue  the  plot  was  made 
by  the  Tipperary  magistrates,  without  success.  Dr. 
McKenna,  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  was  arrested  but  enlarged; 
Mr.  Nagle,  of  GarnaviMa,  (a  relative  of  Burke's,)  Mr. 
Robert  Keating,  and  several  respectable  Catholic  gentle- 
men were  also  arrested.  It  appears  that  Edmund  Burke 
was  charged  with  having  "  sent  his  brother  Richard 
(who  died  recorder  of  Bristol)  and  Mr.  Nagle,  a  relation, 
on  a  mission  to  Munster,  to  levy  money  on  the  Popish 
body  for  the  use  of  the  Whiteboys,  who  were  exclusively 
Papists."*  The  second  batch  of  indictments  was  thrown 
out  by  the  grand  jury,  and  so  that  plot  exploded. 

Contemporaneous  with  the  Whiteboys  were  the  north- 
ern agrarians  called  "  Hearts  of  Steel,"  formed  among 
the  absentee  Lord  Downshire's  tenants,  in  1762;  the 
"  Oak  Boys,"  so  called  from  wearing  oak  leaves  in  their 
hats;  and  the  "Peep  o'Day  Boys."  The  infection  of 
conspiracy  ran  through  all  Ireland,  and  the  disorder  was 
neithei  shortlived  nor  trival.  Rightboys,  Defenders, 
Orangemen,  and  Ribbonmen  descended  from  the  same 
evil  genius,  (whoever  he  was,)  who  first  introduced  the 
system  of  signs,  grips,  passwords,  and  midnight  meet- 
ings, among  the  brave  and  pious  peasantry  of  Ireland. 
The  celebrated  society  of  United  Irishmen  was  the 
highest  form  which  that  principle,  in  our  politics,  ever 
reached.  In  its  origin,  it  was  a  purely  Protestant  organ- 
ization. * 
^n  From  the  first,  the  Catholic  bishops  and  clergy  strenu- 
ously opposed  these  secret  societies.  In  1762,  the 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  issued  a  reprobatory  pastoral  against 
them ;  in  1779,  the  Bishop  of  Ossory  did  likewise. 
Priests  in  Kildare,  Kilkenny,  and  Munster  were  in  per- 
sonal danger  from  these  midnight  legislators  ;  their 
chapels  had  been  frequently  nailed  up,  and  their  bishops 
had  been  often  obliged  to  remove  them,  from  fear  of 
consequences.!     The  infatuation  was  not  to  be  stayed : 

*  Sir  R.  Musgrave'8,  Rebellion  »f  1798.  I  mmn 

t  Debates  in  the  Irislx  Parliament,  1786.  The  celebrated  Father  Ar- 
thur O'Leary  commenced  his  career  Of  authorship  by  attempts  to 
reason  with  the  Whiteboys.    The  trial  of  Redmond  Sheehy,  he  says 


■•*  —  «  — 


I 


*> 


"i 


'  ^im- 


342 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH    TUB 


it- 


X 


'#.,'• 

# 


j^  the  best  friends  of  the  misguided  people  prayed  and  ex- 
horted in  vain  ;  the  emissary,  the  informer,  and  the  hang- 
man rejoiced,  and  reaped  a  harvest,  at  every  season  of 
the  year.  We  should  not  wonder  to  find  Edmund 
Burke  speaking  of  "  the  savage  period  between  1761  and 
1767,"  as  the  most  disastrous  and  oppressive  that  Irish 
Catholics  had  experienced  within  his  memory. 

In  these  momenton?  years,  the  sect  called  Method- 
ists first  appeared  in  Ireland.  It  originated  at  Oxford 
College,  with  Charles  Wesley  and  some  others,  \/ho,  by 
the  precision  and  austerity  of  their  demeanor,  received 
this  title.  Their  practices  were  spread  abroad  chiefly  by 
George  Whitefield,  John  Wesley,  and  Adam  Clarke, 
and  soon  assumed  the  foim  of  a  dogmatic  creed.  Their 
, ,  doctrines,  in  many  points,  were  repetitionb  of  the  thirty- 
pine  articles  of  the  Anglican  establishment;  but  on  the 
great  question  of  grace  they  differed  from  those  articles, 

*  and  differed  among  one  another.  Whitefield  held  Calvin's 
doctrine  of  the  absolute  predestination  of  the  elect; 
while  Wesley  held,  with  Arminius,  that  God  had  elected 
»  from  the  beginning  those  only  whom  he  foresaw  would 
persevere  to  the  end.  The  Wesleyans  were  the  most 
numerous  among  the  Protestants  of  Ireland,  Li  174"*', 
John  Wesley  paid  a  flying  visit  to  Dublin  and  Murster, 
and  left  his  brother  Charles  behind  to  complete  the  or- 
ganization. Charles  remained  for  nearly  a  year  preach- 
ing in  the  capital,  at  Cork,  and  Bandon,  "  with  great 
unction  and  success,"  as  he  has  it.  Among  th^  small 
number  of  the  Irish  "elect"  was  Dr.  Adb.m  Clarke,  a 
native  of  Derry,  and  a  very  learned  man,  and  Mr. 
Thomas  Walsh,  who  induced  Wesley  to  adopt  those 
views  of  grace  which  led  to  the  division  of  the  sect. 
"  Such  a  master  of  biblical  knowledge,"  says  Wesley, 
'  "  I  never  knew  before,  and  never  hope  to  see  again." 
Walsh's  accomplishments,  if  the  panegyric  is  not  over- 
-  done,  were  certainly  extraordinary.  He  was  admitted 
%  as  a  preacher  in  1750,  and  died  in  1759.  He  "  some- 
times preached  in  Irish,  but  piostly  in  English." 

*  was  "  the  first  paper  "  he  read  ''  after  landing  in  Cork,  from  France," 
-where  he  was  educated.  This  fixes  his  return  to  Iceland  in  1766  oz 
1767. 


^ 


ii^iSBiM 


PROTESTANT   REFORMATION   IN    IRELAND. 


243 


'I) 


:e, 


J 

ox 


In  1775,  John  Wesley  revisited  Ireland,  and  preached 
chiefly  in  Ulster.  Falling  sick  there,  he  soon  returned 
to  England. 

From  April tillJuly,  1757,  George  Whitefield"  preached 
nearly  cignty  sermons,"  in  Dublin,  Athlone,  Limerick, 
Cork,  and  Belfast.  "  I  found,"  he  writes,  "  through  the 
many  offences  that  have  lately  been  given,  matters  were 
brought  to  a  low  ebb.  But  the  cry  now  is,  '  Method* 
ism  is  revived  again.' "  Again :  "  Numbers  are  converted? 
not  only  from  Popery,  but  to  Jesus  Christ."  We  discover 
that  neither  Wesley  nor  Whitefield  adduces  the  names 
of  those  converts  who  had  experienced  their  revelation ; 
and  hence  we  conclude,  that  these  general  assertions 
are  not  to  be  taken  literally.  Many  recruits  to  Method- 
isiii  were,  no  doubt,  picked  up  upon  the  outskirts  of  the 
older  Protestant  sects,  but  few  or  none  in  the  Catholio 
ranks.* 

Undoubtedly  the  pontificate  of  Benedict  XIV.  was 
one  full  of  important  events  to  the  Irish  church.  Within 
those  eighteen  years,  (1740-58,)  the  Stuarts  were  aban- 
doned, the  penal  laws  showed  symptoms  of  mortality, 
and  educated  Irish  Protestantism  became  ashamed  and 
afflicted  at  the  persecutions  carried  on  in  their  name.  In 
an  admirable  rescript,  the  holy  father  enforced  the  con- 
stant residence  of  the  bishops  in  their  sees,  so  that  they 
might  emulate  St.  Patrick,  St.  Malachy,  St.  Lawrence, 
and  "all  the  saintly  men  who  conveyed  the  Catholic 
faith  ttoTO.  Ireland  into  other  provinces,  or,  martyr-like, 
rendered  it  glorious  with  their  blood."  This  rescript, 
partly  occasioned  by  the  non-residence  of  Primate  Blake, 
(who  made  his  home  with  his  family  in  Galway,)  had 
its  due  and  most  salutary  effect. 

♦  Whitefield  died  in  1770  ;  Charles  Wesley  in  1788;  John  Wesley  in 
1791.  The  whole  number  of  Methodists  in  Ireland,  at  the  census  of 
18dl,  was  20,040. 


'U,  i . 


iR 


-> 


4*-^ 


^ii j;. TO '^"i •'?•:)  '■'lit  '\^  ^^>\^.j.ii 


< 


-^ 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


CHAPTER   m. 


m 


SECOND  CATHOLIC  COMMITTEE  FOBMED.  —  CONCESSIONS  IN  1774  AND 
177&  — SECESSION  OF  '•  LOBD  KENMARE  AND  THE  SIXTY-EIGHT."  — 
JOHN  &EOGH,  LEADER  OF  THE  CATHOLICS.— MANAGEMENT  OF 
THE  COMMITTEE.  —  COOPERATION  OF  EDMUND  BUREE.  —  GENERAL 
DISCUSSION  OF  CATHOLIC  PRINCIPLES  IN  IRELAND  AND  ENG- 
LAND  ARTHUR  CLEAR Y BURKE  AND  TONE.  — LONDON  RIOTS 

OF  1780,  — IRISH  CATHOLIC  CONVENTION  ELECTED. -THEIR  DEL- 
EGATES PRESENTED  TO  GEORGE  III.,  AND  DEMAND  TOTAL  EMAN- 
CIPATION—  RELIEF  BILL  OF  1793.  —  POLITICAL  REACTION. 


! 


^.-fe- 


Though  the  intentions  of  the  Irish  Parliament  towards 
the  Catholics  in  1762  were  defeated  by  the  king  in  coun- 
cil, the  party  in  favor  of  justice  and  toleration  was 
steadily  on  the  increase.  The  judicious  conduct  of  the 
bishops,  the  influence  of  the  Dublin  press,  and  the  grow- 
ing nationality  of  the  patriot  party,  were  so  much  gained. 
Every  day  new  reasons  for  relief  were  discovered. 
When  Canada  was  ceded  by  the  treaty  of  Paris,  it  was 
well  said  to  the  rulers  who  accepted  it,  "  You  tolerate 
Catholics  in  Canada;  why  not  in  Ireland?"  When 
trade  reports  represented  the  drain  of  specie  by  excess  of 
imports  and  the  insolvency  of  the  banks,  it  was  well 
said  again,  "  Why  do  you  condemn  four  fifths  of  the 
people  to  a  condition  in  which  they  become  a  loa^d  and 
a  burden  rather  than  a  strength  to  the  nation  ?  "  When 
rumors  of  hostile  intentions  on  the  part  of  France  and 
Spain  were  repeated,  the  cry  was,  "  Liberate  the  Catho- 
lics, and  they  will  be  your  best  allies  in  a  defensive  war." 
This  idea  had  advanced  from  a  secondary  to  a  first  con- 
sequence in  the  minds  of  a  large  number  of  thinking 
men,  and  no  question  of  the  day  arose  but  they,  in  one 
way  or  other,  made  it  a  text  for  discussing  the  claims 
of  the  Catholics.  At  this  favorable  juncture,  an  attempt, 
in  1773,  of  the  corporation  of  Dublin  and  other  cities, 
to  impose  a  local  tax  exclusively  on  Catholics,  under 
♦^  the  name  of  quarterage,  stimulated  the  formation  of  the 
society  known  as  the  general  committee  of  the  Irish 
CathoUos.      <  ^* 


•S4^ 


<t«j' 


/■..: 


%«?• 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


345 


Lords  Kenmare,  Fingnl,  and  some  other  country  gen- 
tlemen  were  the  most  important  of  the  movers  in  this 
body ;  but  another  class  of  great  intelligence  and  activity 
was  formed  by  the  Catholic  merchants.  A  voluntary  fund 
was  subscribed,  in  which  the  merchants  were  not  behind 
the  gentry ;  a  treasure)  (Mr.  Dermot)  was  appointed,  and 
an  honorary  secretary,  (Mr.  Richard  McCormick,)  both 
from  among  the  merchants.  By  this  committee  Lord 
Kenmare  was  sent  over  to  London  to  communicate  with 
the  friends  of  the  Catholics  there,  and  to  ascertain  the 
sentiments  of  the  king  and  ministers.  His  lordship 
established  a  good  understanding  witii  Mr.  Burke,  Sir 
George  Saville,  Lord  Mansfield,  and  other  friends  of  tol- 
eration in  Parliament,  as  well  as  with  tho  chiefs  of  the 
English  Catholics,  clerical  and  lay,  who,  at  that  very 
time,  were  bestirring  themselves  to  recover  ^ir  civil 
rights.  The  expenses  of  Lord  Kenmare  on  this  mission, 
amounting  to  .£1500,  were  disbursed  by  the  committee 
at  Dublin.*  One  immediate  result  was,  to  raise  the 
consideration  of  the  Irish  Catholics  at  home.  The  "  act 
to  enable  all  classes  of  his  majesty^s  subjects  to  testify 
their  allegiance  to  him"  —  in  other  words,  modifying 
the  oath  of  allegiance  so  that  Catholics  might  freely  take 
it  —  was  passed  in  the  spring  of  1774.  A  littie  later 
Lord  Buckinghamshire  permitted  a  deputation  to  present 
him  with  a  truly  humble  petition  to  be  forwarded  to  the 
king,  and  so  the  wedge  was  entered.  "  There  it  goes," 
cried  Anthony  Malonc,  as  the  first  relief  bill  passed, 
"  and  I  am  heartily  glad  of  it,  for  now  the  whole  system 
must  come  down."f 

The  right  of  petitipn,  being  implied  in  that  of  '* testi- 
fying allegiance,"  was  at  once  acted  upon  by  those 
concerned.  A  painfully-affecting  document  was  that 
which  the  viceroy  condescended  to  receive  from  the 
hands  of  Lord  Fingal,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Preston,  and  Mr. 
Dermot.  Its  prayer  was  strictly  confined  to  the  removal 
of  disabilities  affecting  real  property.  The  petitioners 
state,  — 


*  Tone's  Memoirs,  vol.  L  p.  483. 
t  Life  of  Grattaii(  voL  L 


21* 


'^j^ 


■  -a 


m- 


246 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


>;J^ 


\ 


k 


*■■' 
I 


* 

* 


"We  are,  may  it  please  your  majesty,  a  numerous 
"  and  very  industrious  part  of  your  majesty's  subjects ; 
"  and  yet  by  no  industry,  by  no  honest  endeavors  on  our 
"  part,  is  it  in  our  power  to  acquire  or  to  hold  almost 
"  any  secure  or  permanent  property  whatsoever ;  we 
"  are  not  only  disqualified  to  purchase,  but  are  disabled 
"  from  occupying,  any  land,  even  in  farm,  except  on  a 
"  tenure  extremely  scanted  both  in  profit  and  in  time ; 
"  and  if  we  should  venture  to  expend  any  thing  on  the 
"  melioration  of  land  thus  held,  by  building,  by  enclosure, 
"  by  draining,  or  by  any  other  species  of  improvement,  so 
"  very  necessary  in  this  country,  so  far  would  our  services 
"  be  from  bettering  our  fortunes,  that  these  are  precisely 
"  the  very  circumstances  which,  as  the  law  now  stands, 
"  must  necessarily  disqualify  us  from  continuing  those 
"  farms  for  any  time  in  our  possession. 

"  Whilst  the  endeavors  of  our  industry  are  thus  dis- 
"  couraged,  (no  less,  we  humbly  apprehend,  to  the  detri- 
"  ment  of  the  national  prosperity  and  the  diminution  of 
"your  majesty's  revenue  than  to  our  particular  ruin,) 
"  there  are  a  set  of  men,  who,  instead  of  exercising  any 
"  honest  occupation  in  the  commonwealth,  make  it  their 
"  employment  to  pry  into  our  miserable  property,  to  drag 
"  us  4nto  the  courts,  and  to  compel  us  to  confess  on  our 
"  oaths,  and  under  the  penalties  of  perjury,  whether  we 
"  have  in  any  instance  acquired  a  property  in  the  small- 
"  est  degree  exceeding  what  the  rigor  of  the  law  has  ad- 
"  initted ;  and  in  such  case  the  informers,  without  any 
"  other  merit  than  that  of  their  discovery,  are  invested 
"  (to  the  daily  ruin  of  several  innocent,  industrious  fam- 
"  ilies)  not  only  with  the  surplus  in  which  the  law  is  ex- 
"  ceeded,  but  in  the  whole  body  of  the  estate  and  interest 
"  so  discovered ;  and  it  is  our  grief  that  this  evil  is  likely 
"  to  continue  and  increase,  as  informers  have,  in  this 
"  country,  almost  worn  off  the  infamy  which  in  all  ages 
"  and  in  all  other  countries  has  attended  their  character, 
"  and  have  grown  into  some  repute  by  the  frequency  and 
"  success  of  their  practices. 

"  And  this,  most  gracious  sovereign,  though  extremely 
"  grievous,  is  far  from  being  the  only  or  most  oppressive 


(( 


(( 


(( 


r. 


t 


\- 


i.ipV 


PROTESTANT   REFdlOttATlON  IN   IRELAND. 


247 


"  particular  in  which  our  distress  is  connected  with  the 
"  breach  of  the  rules  of  honor  and  morality.  By  the 
"  laws  now  in  force  in  this  kingdom,  a  son,  however  un- 
"  dutiful  or  profligate,  shall,  merely  by  the  merit  of  con- 
"  forming  to  the  established  religion,  deprive  the«Roman 
"  Catholic  father  of  that  free  and  full  possession  of  his 
"  estate,  that  power  to  mortgage  or  otherwise  dispose  of 
"  it,  as  the  exigencies  of  his  affairs  may  require ;  but  shall 
"  himself  have  full  liberty  immediately  to  mortgage  or 
"  otherwise  alienate  the  reversion  of  that  estate  from  his 
"  family  forever  —  a  regulation  by  which  a  father,  con- 
"  trary  to  the  order  of  nature,  is  put  under  the  power  of 
"  his  son,  and  through  which  an  early  dissoluteness  Is  not 
"  only  suffered,  but  encouraged,  by  giving  a  pernicious 
"  privilege,  the  frequent  use  of  which  has  broken  the 
"  hearts  of  many  deserving  parents,  and  entailed  poverty 
"  and  despair  on  some  of  the  most  ancient  and  opulent 
"  families  in  this  kingdom. 

"  Even  when  the  parent  has  the  good  fortune  to 
"  escape  this  calamity  in  his  lifetime,  yet  he  has  at  his 
"  death  the  melancholy  and  almost  certain  prospect  of 
"  leaving  neither  peace  nor  fortune  to  his  children ;  for 
"  by  that  law  which  bestows  the  whole  fortune  on  the 
"first  conformist,  or,  on  nonconformity,  disperses  it 
"  among  the  children,  incurable  jealousies  and  animos- 
"  ities  have  arisen,  a  total  extinction  of  principle  and  of 
"  natural  benevolence  has  ensued,  whilst  we  are  obliged 
« to  consider  our  own  offspring  and  the  brothers  of  our 
"  own  blood  as  our  most  dangerous  enemies  ;  the  bless- 
"  ing  of  Providence  on  our  families,  in  a  numerous  issue, 
"  is  converted  into  the  most  certain  means  of  their  ruin 
"  and  depravation :  we  are,  most  gracious  sovereign, 
"  neither  permitted  to  enjoy  the  few  broken  remains  of 
"  our  patrimonial  inheritance,  nor  by  our  industry  to 
"  acquire  any  secure  establishment  to  our  families."  * 

To  this  petition  (it  was  written  by  Edmund  Burke) 
no  answer  was  at  that  time  returned.  Almost  the  whole 
body  of  Catholics  had  taken  the  new  oath  of  allegiance 

'-"*««'.    ,  ParneU'8  Histoiy  of  the  Penal  Laws,  pp.  111-113. 


-■;* 


248 


.icm'j 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    TUB  ../^ii*        \ 


prescribed  by  the  act  of  that  year ;  the  Munster  bishops 
held  a  special  synod  in  1775,  to  explain  and  enforce  it, 
and  with  Archbishop  Butler  at  their  head,  set  an  exam- 
ple of  publicly  taking  it.  Father  O'Leary  and  other 
Catholics  preached  and  wrote  in  its  maintenance,  and  by 
dint  of  'a  great  display  of  loyalty,  succeeded,  at  length, 
in  attracting  the  further  attention  of  the  legislature.  In 
this  effort  the  American  war  helped  them  materially  ;  it 
was  remarked  that,  as  the  cause  of  the  colonies  pro- 
gressed, so  did  that  of  the  Catholics. 

A  bill  granting  concessions  in  relation  to  the  holding 
of  real  estate  was  drawn,  and  had  been  much  discussed 
by  letter  between  Burke  and  the  Catholic  leaders  and 
Mr.  Perry,  speaker  of  the  Irish  Commons  House,  who 
favored  it.  After  much  negotiation  to  and  fro,  and 
much  sounding  of  the  castle  and  the  king,  the  bill  passed 
in  1778,*  another  rumored  French  invasion  and  Bur- 
goyne's  surrender  being  principals  to  its  passage ;  indeed, 
they  might  be  called  the  proposer  and  seconder.  By  this 
law.  Catholics  were  allowed  to  lend  money  on  real  estate 
mortgage,  to  lease  land  for  a  term  of  years  not  exceeding 
one  thousand,  (there  was  a  majority  of  three  against 
their  holding  in  fee,)  to  hold  lands  devised  to  them,  and  to 
make  demises  as  other  owners  of  estates  did.  The  prin- 
ciple of  property  —  the  fundamental  rule  of  all  fixed 
society  —  was  thus  restored.  This  was  a  great  matter. 
Property  is  the  first  lesson  which  barbarism  learns  from 
civilization ;  it  is  the  constitutional  conservator  of  order 
and  justice,  the  standard  and  the  reward  of  industry  and 
conduct.  After  two  centuries  of  confiscation,  the  heirs 
of  the  reformers  had  to  humble  their  crests,  and  restore 
that  social  principle  of  the  right  to  acquire  property 
which  Elizabeth,  Cecil,  and  Cromwell,  Ormond,  and 
"William  III.  had  so  laboriously  endeavored  to  strike  out 
of  the  hearts  of  the  Irish  Catholics.  Many  of  this  class, 
at  home  and  abroad,  had  amassed  large  sums  of  money, 
and  after  the  law  of  1778,  stepped  eagerly  into  the  markets, 


(( 


*  In  1774  passed  what,  in  strict  construction,  might  be  called  the  first 
relief  bill  —  the  "  act  to  enable  all  classes  of  his  majesty's  subjects  to 
testify  their  allegiance  to  him." 


■m 


\'    .//.■   . 


PROTESTANT    REFORMAflON    IN    IRELAND. 


249 


and  purchased  the  estates  of  insolvent  Protestant  propri- 
etors. A  few  years  later,  we  find  the  result  in  the  ex- 
tended ranks  and  influenee  of  the  Catholic  gentry.  At 
the  close  of  the  century,  they  had  recovered  one  fourth  of 
the  real  estate  of  the  whole  kingdom. 

The  general  politics  of  the  empire  were  at  this  period 
the  best  auxiliary  of  the  Catholics  and  of  the  patriot 
party.  In  1776,  the  army  was  withdrawn  from  Ireland 
to  serve  in  America ;  the  next  year  the  volunteers  were 
organized ;  the  next,  Burgoyne's  surrender  was  celebrated 
in  the  streets  of  Dublin  ;  in  1779,  the  combined  fleets  of 
France  and  Spain  appeared  in  the  Channel,  and  Ireland 
demanded  "  free  trade  *'  —  the  freedom  of  her  exports 
and  imports  from  English  restrictions.  While  Arthur 
O'Leary  exhorted  the  Munster  peasantry  to  loyalty, 
Henry  Grattan  draughted  the  resolutions  of  Dungannon, 
where  one  hundred  and  forty-three  Protestant  regiments 
resolved^  "  that  no  power  on  earth,  save  the  King,  Lords, 
"  and  Commons  of  Ireland,"  could  of  right  legislate  for 
it.*  Besides  the  political  declaration,  there  was  another 
(passed  with  only  two  dissentient  voices)  in  these  words : 
"  that,  as  Christians  and  Protestants,  they  rejoiced  in  the 
"  relaxation  of  the  penal  laws  against  their  Roman  Cath- 
"  olic  fellow-subjects,  and  that  they  conceived  the 
"  measure  to  be  fraught  with  the  happiest  consequences 
"  to  the  union  and  prosperity  of  Ireland."  A  few  days 
later,  the  Catholic  question  came  up  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  on  Mr.  Gardiner's  bill,  which  proposed  to 
give  the  Catholics  Jive  concessions :  1.  The  right  to 
hold  land  in  fee  simple.  2.  The  free  exercise  of  their 
religion.  3.  Freedom  of  education.  4.  To  legalize  Cath- 
olic marriages.  5.  To  give  them  the  right  to  bear  arms, 
and  join  the  militia.  The  debate  commenced  on  the 
first  proposition,  which  Wynne,  Rowley,  and  St  George, 
of  the  castle,  opposed,  and  which  Grattan,  Flodd, 
Langrishe,  and  Daly  defended.  The  first  and  third 
clauses  were  embodied  into  law  and  passed,  but  the 
second,  fourth,  and  fifth  were  omitted.  The  additional 
property  and  intelligence  acquired  under  this  statute 
materially  increased  the  Catholic  strength  and  influence. 


1 


^f 


*£tiJ-h: 


-.:::M- 


iJr 


V—  ■ 


^: 


250 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLT8H    THE        >f  ' 


Two  months  later,  the  independence  of  the  Irish  Par- 
liament was  admitted  by  the  solemn  act  of  the  king  and 
the  British  Parliament ;  in  1783,  '84,  '85,  '86,  and  [87, 
the  Parliament  was  exclusively  occupied  by  constitu- 
tional and  commercial  questions  of  pressing  importance; 
simple  repeal,  the  new  tariff',  and  the  marine  laws ;  final- 
ly, the  regency  question  excluded  for  a  time  the  dis- 
cussion of  all  other  topics.  In  the  spring  of  1788,  the 
subject  of  the  tithe  of  potatoes  levied  on  the  cotters  of 
the  south  came  up,  and  Grattan  made  those  two  won- 
derful speeches  on  that  subject  which  stand  above  com- 
parison with  any  thing  of  the  kind  in  our  language.  To 
that  extent,  tithe  was  abolished,  though  the  principle  was 
not  touched  thereby. 

The  successes  of  1778  and  1782  were  not  followed  up 
with  spirit  and  vigor  by  the  Catholics.  When,  in  1783, 
a  convention  favorable  to  a  reform  in  Parliament,  and 
well  disposed  towards  rhe  Catholics,  met  at  the  Rotunda, 
in  Lord  Kenmare's  name,  Sir  Boyle  Roche  said,  that 
his  lordship  and  the  Catholic  body  were  well  content 
with  the  concessions  they  had  got,  and  had  no  intention 
of  further  efforts.  This  statement  gave  great  offence  to 
many  Catholics,  especially  those  of  Dublin.  A  further 
attempt  of  the  same  nobleman  to  induce  the  committee 
to  call  on  Catholics  to  withdraw  from  the  volunteer 
forces  led  to  a  discussion,  and  discussion  led  to  secession. 
Failing  to  carry  a  series  of  resolutions,  including  both 
his  propositions,  Lord  Kenmare  and  his  friends  retired. 
They  published  their  documents  as  a  protest,  signed  with 
sixty-eight  names,  chiefly  country  gentlemen  connected 
with  the  Catholic  peers.  Three  or  four  bishops  also 
signed  it. 

The  committee  was  thus  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Dub- 
lin merchants,  of  whom  the  prinoipal  were  Edward 
Byrne,*  Richard  McCormick,  and  John  Keogh.  Keogh 
was,  unquestionably,  a  powerful  man :  a  native  of  the 
west  of  Irehind,  he  had  made  by  trade  a  vast  fortune, 


*  Byrne  -was  a  wine  merchant,  and  paid  one  hundred  thousand  pounds 
a  year  duty  to  the  government.  See  Qrattan's  speech  on  the  Catholic 
claims,  in  1798,      ,     '  it  ,va 


,-  ■  *« 


■:^^'., 


■  ■■^■A 


"'»'^. 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


251 


lived  in  most  hospitable  style  at  Mount  Jerome,  near  the 
city ;  had  friends  in  every  town  and  village  throughout 
the  land ;  was  a  donor  to  all  Catholic  charities,  and  high 
in  the  confidence  of  the  majority  of  the  bishops.  Add 
to  this,  abilities  and  judgment  of  a  high  order,  a  fluent 
address,  a  fertile  invention,  a  sober  judgment,  an  endless 
energy,  and  a  passion  for  politics :  such  was  John  Keogh. 
In  the  long  line  of  Irish  agitators,  it  would  be  hard  to 
find  another  character  so  memorable  for  disinterested 
and  solid  services. 

To  insure  the  transaction  of  business,  a  sub-committee 
of  tvvelvcj  chiefly  resident  in  Dublin,  was  chosen  out  of 
'*the  general  committee,"  which  included  every  Catholic 
bishop,  merchant,  or  gentleman,  who  subscribed  to  its 
rules.  The  sub-committee  were  to  act  for  them;  the 
general  committee  to  be  convened  only  on  special  occa- 
sions. To  the  latter,  Richard  McCormick  was  honorary 
secretary ;  to  the  former,  Theobald  McKenna,  and  after- 
wards Richard  Burke,  son  of  the  illustrious  statesman. 
A  regular  agent  was  maintained  at  London,  "  a  profes- 
sional gentleman  of  great  respectability,"  to  whom,  frotn 
time  to  time,  remuneration  to  the  amount  of  "  upwards 
of  two  thousand  pounds  "  was  remitted.  This  agent  was 
succeeded  by  Richard  Burke,  who,  during  1791,  attended 
on  the  committee  in  Dublin.  In  1792,  Mr.  Burke's  ser- 
vices were  dispensed  with,  and  a  present  of  fifteen  hundred 
guineas  made  to  him.  In  July  of  that  yea  Theobald 
Wolf  Tone  was  chosen  secretary,  at  a  sal  ry  of  two 
hundred  pounds  per  year.  He  held  the  office  m  irly  three 
years,  and  resigned  on  leaving  for  America. 

This  is  the  period  at  which  to  acknowledge  the  great 
services  rendered  to  the  Catholic  cause  by  Edmund  Burke. 
Born  in  Dublin,  in  1730,  educated  partly  in  Kildare  and 
partly  in  Cork,  he  spent  his  first  twenty-five  years  of 
life  in  his  native  land.  A  sickly  and  studious  youth,  he 
read,  observed,  and  reflected  much :  the  son  of  a  Catji- 
olic  mother,  and  the  husband  of  a  Catholic  wife,  his 
affections,  as  well  as  his  philosophy,  made  him  tolerant. 
In  1765,  he  bad  prepared  his  Tract  on  the  Popery 
Laws.     In  1767,  we  find  him  assisting  the  defenoelesa 


*  ms^M-^ 


S52 


AtT£MFTS  to  ESTABLISH  THE 


I 


gentlemen  charged  with  Whiteboyism  at  Clonmel.  He 
made  three  visits  to  Ireland  at  that  "savage  period;" 
his  election  to  the  English  Parliament  did  not  in  the 
least  turn  him  aside  from  this,  one  of  his  cardinal  points 
of  public  conduct.  In  1774,  he  drew  the  petition  for,  and 
labored  to  ptlsh  through,  the  bill  then  proposed.  In 
1778,  in  his  place  in  Parliament,  he  declared  openly  for 
emancipation.  In  1782,  he  wrote  his  noble  letter  on  the 
penal  laws  to  Lord  Kenmare.  We  might  stop  at  this 
point,  and  honor  him  for  the  debt  then  due.  But  we 
must  not  fail  to  add  that,  from  that  time  until  his  death, 
he  never  lost  a  session  of  Parliament,  or  any  public  or 
private  opportunity, of  serving  the  Catholics;*  that  he 
gave  his  beloved  son  to  them  as  a  secretary,  and  that  the 
last  work  of  his  hand  was  done  for  their  liberation. 

Iti  1778,  a  relief  bill  had  been  enacted  at  London, 
very  similar  to  that  passed  in  Ireland,  and  soon  after,  the 
English  Catholics,  from  the  example  of  their  Irish  breth- 
ren, had  formed  a  committee  to  petition  Parliament. 
The  recognition  of  their  civil  existence,  and  this  deter- 
mination on  their  part  to  assert  their  rights,  led  to  a 
counter  Protestant  movement,!  ^^^  *o  ^  warm  discussion 
of  their  principles  through  the  press  of  both  countries. 
Eajfly  and  conspicuous  in  this  controversy  was  John 
Wesley,  who,  in  1780,  published  two  letters  on  "  the 
civil  principles  of  the  Roman  Catholics,"  in  which  he 
maintained  "  that  no  government,  not  Roman  Catholic, 
ought  to  tolerate  men  of  the  Roman  Catholic  persua- 
sion;" "that  they  ought  not  to  be  tolerated  by  any 
government,  Protestant,  Mahometan,  or  pagan."  The 
same  year,  in  his  Defence  of  the  Protestant  Associa- 
tion, he  exhorted  all  Englishmen  to  act  as  one  man 
with  Lord  G«orge  Gordon,  "to  stop  the  progress  of 
that  soul-deceiving  and  all-destroying  superstition,  which 
threatens  to  overspread  the  land."     As  a  reply  to  Wes- 


*  See  Letters  to  Sir  Hercules  Langrishe,  M.  F.  —  to  William  Smith, 
M.  p.  —  to  Thomas  Burgh,  M.  P.  — to  Richard  Burke,  Esq.,  (his  son)  — 
•nd  other  papers  on  this  subject,  in  Burke's  Works  and  Correspondence. 

t  Eigh^  **  Protestant  Associations  "  existed  in  England  and  Scotland 
In  1780. 


PROTESTANT   RErORMATlON    IN    IRELAND. 


253 


ley,  Dr.  Coppinger,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  pub- 
lished his  Principles  of  Catholics,  a  tract  usually  bound 
up  with  the  prayer  books  in  use  among  our  fathers  and 
grandfathers.  This  pamphlet  ran  through  six  editions  in 
a  short  time  from  its  first  appearance.  A  better-known 
reply  was  made  by  Father  Arthur  O'Leary,  who  chiefly 
dealt  with  the  charge  that  Catholics  believed  "no  faith 
ought  to  be  kept  with  heretics."  For  point,  humor,  and 
force,  O'Leary's  letter  to  Wesley,  and  his  rejoinder  to 
Wesley's  reply,  are  among  the  treasures  of  our  language. 
Even  Irish  political  literature,  rich  and  varied  as  it  is, 
has  nothing  of  the  kind  to  surpass,  hardly  any  thing  to 
dispute  rank  with  them.  His  invitation  to  Mr.  Wesley 
to  visit  him  in  Munster  is  a  fair  specimen  of  these 
letters. 

"  Mr.  Wesley  may  consider  me  as  a  fictitious  charac- 
*'  ter;  but,  should  he  follow  his  precursor,  (I  mean  his 
"  letter,  wafted  to  us  over  the  British  Channel,)  and,  on 
"  his  mission  from  Dublin  to  Bandon,  make  Cork  his 
"  way,  Dr.  Berkely,  parish  minister,  near  Middleton, 
"  Captain  Stanners,  French,  and  others,  who  were  pris- 
"  oners  of  war,  in  the  same  place  and  at  the  same  time, 
"  can  fully  satisfy  him  as  to  the  reality  of  my  existence, 
"  in  the  line  already  described ;  and  that  in  the  beard 
"  which  I  then  wore,  and  which,  like  that  of  Sir  Thomas 
"  More,  never  committed  any  treason,  I  never  concealed 
"  either  poison  or  dagger  to  destroy  my  Protestant  neigh- 
"  bor ;  though  it  was  long  enough  to  set  all  Scotland 

"  in  a  blaze,  and  to  deprive  Lord  G— —  G of  his 

"  senses. 

"  Should  any  of  the  Scotch  mis;sionaries  attend  Mr 
"  Wesley  into  this  kingdom,  and  bring  with  them  any 
"  of  the  stumps  of  the  fagots  with  which  Henry  VHL, 
"  his  daughters,  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  and  the  learned 
"  James  I.,  roasted  the  heretics  of  their  times  in  Smith- 
"  field,  or  some  of  the  fagots  with  which  the  Scotch 
**  saints,  of  whose  proceedings  Mr.  Wesley  is  become 
"  the  apologist,  have  burned  the  houses  of  their  inoffen- 
"  sive  Catholic  neighbors,  we  will  convert  them  to  their 
**  proper  use.  In  £eland,  the  revolution  of  the  great  Pla- 
22 


» 


254 


.m-t 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


I 


**  tonic  year  is  almost  completed.  Things  are  reinstated 
"  ill  their  primitive  order.  And  the  fagot,  which,  with- 
"  out  any  mission  from  Christ,  preached  the  gospel  by 
"  orders  of  Catholic  and  Protestant  kings,  is  confined  to 
"  the  kitchen.  Thus  what  formerly  roasted  the  man  at 
<^  the  stake  now  helps  to  feed  him ;  and  nothing  but  the 
"  severity  of  winter,  and  the  coldness  of  the  climate  in 
"  Scotland,  could  justify  Mr.  "Wesley  in  urging  the  rabble 
"  to  light  it.  This  is  a  bad  time  to  introduce  it  amongst 
"  us,  when  we  begin  to  be  formidable  to  our  foes,  and 
"  united  amongst  ourselves.  And,  to  the  glory  of  Ireland 
"  be  it  said,  we  never  condemned  but  murderers  and  per- 
"  petrators  of  unnatural  crimes  to  the  fagot." 

He  portrays  Lord  George  Gordon,  in  a  sentence,  as 
"  a  lord  with  his  hair  cropped,  a  Bible  in  his  hand,  turned 
elder  and  high  priest  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  and 
fainting  for  the  ark  of  IsraeV^  This  correspondence 
occurred  in  January  and  February,  and  the  Protestant 
riots  followed  in  the  month  of  June.  From  the  first  day 
of  that  month  till  the  nineteenth,  London  was  in  the 
nands  of  a  fanatical  mob,  whose  Protestant  exploits  are 
thus  recorded  in  the  Annual  Register  of  the  same 
year : — 

"  Every  body  knows  the  circumstances,  as  well  as  the 
"  event,  of  this  shameful  and  unhappy  affair ;  and  that 
"  Lord  George  Gordon,  who  had  been  early  placed  at  the 
"  head  of  the  Scotch  association  for  the  support  of  the 
"  Protestant  religion,  was  likewise  appointed  president 
"  to  an  association  in  London,  formed  in  imitation  or 
"  emulation  of  the  former.  The  public  summons  in 
"  the  newspapers,  by  which  he  assembled  fifty  or  sixty 
"  thousand  men  in  St.  George's  Fields,  under  an  idea  of 
"  defending  the  religion  of  the  country  against  imaginary 
"  danger,  by  accompanying  the  presentment,  and  enfor- 
"  cing  the  matter  of  a  petition  to  Parliament,  demanding 
"  the  repeal  of  the  late  law,  which  afforded  some  relaxa- 
"  tion  of  the  penal  statutes  against  Popery,  are  Likewise 
"  fresh  in  every  body's  memory. 

"  The  extraordinary  conduct  of  that  noble  person  in 
^^  the  Hpus^  of  Comiuons,  during  the  present  session}  and 


(( 


« 


(( 


(( 


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(( 


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"1 
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PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND.  255 


"  the  frequent  interraptions  which  he  gave  to  the  busi- 
"  ness  of  Parliament,  as  well  by  the  unaccountable  man- 
^<  ner  in  which  he  continually  brought  in  and  treated 
"  matters  relative  to  religion,  anH  he  danger  of  Popery, 
"  as  the  caprice  with  which  he  divided  the  house,  upon 
"  questions  wherein  he  stood  nearly  or  entirely  alone, 
"  were  passed  over,  along  with  other  singularities  in  his 
"  dress  and  manner,  rather  as  subjects  of  pleasantry  than 
"  of  serious  notice  or  reprehension.  Even  when  he  in- 
"  volved  matters  of  state  with  those  of  religion,  in  a 
''  strange  kind  of  language,  boasting  that  he  was  at  .the 
"  head  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  able  men  in 
'-  Scotland,  who  would  quickly  remedy  their  own  griev- 
"  ances,  jf  they  were  not  otherwise  redressed,  and  little 
"  less  than  holding  out  destruction  to  the  crown  and  gov- 
"  ernment,  unless  full  security  was  given  to  the  associa- 
"  tions  in  both  countries,  against  those  imminent  dangers 
"  with  which  they  were  immediately  threatened  by 
"  Popery  —  such  things,  and  others,  if  possible,  still  n:  ore 
"  extraordinary,  were  only  treated  merely  as  objects  of 
"  laughter.  It  is,  however,  possible  that  this  careless- 
"  ness,  or  complacence  of  the  house,  was  at  length  car- 
"  ried  too  far. 

"  Besides  the  advertisements  and  resolutions,  the  in- 
"  flammatory  harangue  of  the  president,  at  the  preceding 
"  meeting  of  the  Protestant  association,  was  published 
"  in  the  newspapers,  and  was  full  of  matter,  which  might 
''  well  have  excited  the  most  instant  attention  and  alarm. 
"  In  that  piece,  the  president  informs  his  enthusiastic  ad- 
"  herents,  among  other  extraordinary  matter,  that,  for  his 
"  part,  he  would  run  all  hazards  with  the  people ;  and, 
"  if  the  people  were  too  lukewarm  to  run  all  hazards 
"  with  him,  when  their  conscience  and  their  country  called 
"  them  forth,  they  might  get  another  president ;  for  he 
"  would  tell  them  candidly,  that  he  was  not  a  lukewarm 
"  man  himself ;  and  if  they  meant  to  spend  their  time  in 
"  mock  debate  and  idle  opposition,  they  might  get  another 
"  leader.  He  afterwards  declared,  that  if  he  was  at- 
"  tended  by  less  than  twenty  thousand,  on  the  appointed 
"  day,  he  would  not  present  their  petition ;  and  he  gave 


?,■ 


-*■ 


S56 


.cm.-    AttEMPfS   TO    ESf  ABLI8H    THI 


"  orders,  under  the  appearance  of  a  motiowf  for  the  man- 
*'  ner  in  which  they  should  be  marshalled  in  St.  George's 
"  Fields  ;  appointing  that  they  should  be  formed  in  four 
"  bodies,  three  of  them  regulated  by  the  respective  boun- 
*'  daries  of  the  great  divisions  of  *he  metropolis,  and 
"  the  fourth  composed  entirely  of  his  own  particular 
*'  countrymen.  To  prevent  mistakes,  the  whole  were  to 
"  be  distinguished  by  blue  cockades.  If  this  were  not 
*'  sufficient  to  arouse  the  attention  of  government.  Lord 
"  George  Gordon  gave  notice  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
"  on  the  Tuesday,  that  the  petition  would  be  presented 
"  on  the  following  Friday,  and  that  the  whole  body  of 
"  Protestant  aasociators  were  to  assemble  in  St.  George's 
*♦  Fields,  in  order  to  accompany  their  petitJQjpi  to  the 
*'  house. 

"  These  notices  ought  to  have  given  a  more  serious 
*'  alarm  than  they  seem  to  have  done  to  government. 
"  The  opposition  afterwards  charged  them  with  little  less 
"  than  a  meditated  encouragement  to  this  fanatic  tumult 
"  in  order  to  discountenance  the  associations  which  had 
*'  more  serious  objects  in  view,  ana  to  render  odious  and 
*'  contemptible  all  popular  interposition  in  affairs  of  state. 
"  They  reminded  them  of  their  activity  in  giving  orders 
<*  to  hold  the  military  in  readiness,  en  a  peaceable  meet- 
"  ing  in  Westminster  Hall,  and  their  utter  neglect  of  the 
"  declared  and  denounced  violence  of  this  sort  of  people. 

"  The  alarming  cry  against  Popery,  with  the  continual 
**  invective  and  abuse  which  they  disseminated  through 
^*  newspapers,  pamphlets,  and  sermons,  by  degrees  drew 
**  over  to  a  meeting,  originally  small  and  obscure,  a  num- 
**  ber  of  well-meaning  people,  from  the  various  classes 
*'  of  Protestants,  who  seriously  apprehended  their  reli- 
**  gion  to  be  in  danger.  These,  however  deficient  they 
"  were  in  point  of  consideration,  being,  for  the  far  great- 
**  er  part,  poor  and  ignorant  people,  many  of  whom 
"  could  not  write  their  names,  became  formidable  with 
*'  respect  to  n  ambers.  It  is,  however,  to  be  at  all 
*'  times  remembered  that  the  conduct  of  these  associa- 
"  tors  was  'lot  more  execrated  than  the  intolerant  princi- 

"  pie,  to  which  they  owed  their  union  and  action,  was 

;  ...     -^  ■■-■_■■■ 


f 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


257 


(( 


"  condemned  by  the  sound  and  eminent  divines,  both  of 
"  the  established  church  and  of  the  dissenters. 

"  On  the  2d  of  June,  the  grand  division  of  associators, 
"  being  drawn  off,  by  different  routes,  from  the  rende/- 
"  vous  of  St.  George's  Fields,  filled  the  ways  throujijh 
"  which  they  marched  in  ranks  with  a  multitude  which 
"  excited  wonder  and  alarm.  Having  arrived  at  tho 
"  place  of  their  destination,  and  filled  up  all  the  streets 
"  and  avenues  to  both  houses,  they  began  the  exercise  of 
"  'the  new  authority,  derived  from  their  numbers,  only  by 
"  compelling  the  members,  as  they  came  down,  to  cry 
"  out,  '  No  Popery ; '  to  wear  blue  cockades ;  and  soniu, 
"  as  it  is  said,  to  take  an  oath  to  contribute  all  in  their 

power  to  the  repeal  of  the  new  law,  or,  as  they  called 
"  it,  the  Popery  act.  But,  upon  the  appearance  of  the 
"  Archbishop  of  York,  and  other  of  the  prelates  and 
"  court  lords,  their  rage  and  violence  were  increased  to 
"  the  highest  pitch.  During  this  dreadful  tumult,  which 
"  continued,  with  more  or  less  interruption,  for  some 
"  hours,  the  arcibishop,  the  Duke  of  Northumberland, 
"  the  lord  president  of  the  council,  with  several  others 
"  of  the  nobility,  including  most  or  all  of  the  lords  in  of- 
"  fice,  were  treated  with  the  greatest  indignities.  The 
"  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  in  particular,  most  narrowly  escaped 
"  with  his  life ;  first  by  being  suddenly  carried  into  a 
'*  house,  upon  the  demolition  of  his  carriage,  and  then 
"  being  as  expeditiously  led  through,  and  over  its  top, 
"  into  another.  Lord  Stormont's  life  was  also  in  the 
"  most  imminent  danger ;  and  he  was  only  rescued,  after 
"  being  half  an  hour  in  their  hands,  by  the  presence  of 
<'  mind  and  address  of  a  gentleman  who  happened  to  be 
''  in  the  crowd. 

"It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the  astonishment, 
"  sense  of  degradation,  horror,  and  dismay,  which  pre- 
"  vailed  in  both  houses.  *  Attempts  were  tvdce  made  to 
"  force  their  doors,  and  were  repelled  by  the  firmness 
"  and  resolution  of  their  doorkeepers  and  other  officers. 
"  In  this  scene  of  terror  and  danger,  the  resolution  and 
*'  spirit  with  which  a  young  clergyman,  who  acted  as  as- 
"  sistant,  or  substitute^  to  the  chaplain  of  the  House  of 


•* 


/-iS^S'. 


i 


258 


41^     ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


!       \ 


y 


"  Commons,  rebuked  the  outrage  of  the  mob,  and  told 
*'  their  leader,  in  their  presence,  that  he  was  answerable 
**  for  a?l  the  blood  that  would  be  shed,  and  all  the  other 
"  fatal  consequences  that  might  ensue,  merited  some 
"  other  reward  besides  mere  applause. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  the  author,  mover,  and  leader  of 
"  the  sedition,  having  obtained  leave,  in  the  House  of 
"  Commons,  to  bring  up  the  petition,  afterwards  moved 
"  for  its  being  taken  mto  immediate  consideration.  This 
"  biought  on  some  debate  ;  and  the  rioters  being  in  pos- 
**  session  of  the  lobby,  the  house  were  kept  confined,  for 
"  several  hours,  before  they  could  divide  upon  the  ques- 
"  tion.  The  impediment  being  at  length  removed  by 
*'  the  arrival  of  the  magistrates  and  guards,  the  question 
"  was  rejected,  upon  a  division,  by  a  majority  of  one 
hundred  and  ninety -two  to  six  only,  by  whom  it  was 
supported.  During  this  time,  Lord  George  Gordon 
frequently  went  out  to  the  top  of  the  gallery  stairs, 
from  whence  he  harangued  the  rioters,  telling  them 
what  passed  in  the  house  ;  that  their  petition  would  be 
postponed ;  that  he  did  not  like  decays  ;  and  repeating 
"  aloud  the  names  of  gentlemen  who  had  opposed  the 
**  taking  it  into  consideration  under  their  present  circum- 
"  stances ;  thus,  in  fact,  holding  them  out  as  obnoxious 
"  persons,  and  enemies,  to  a  lawless  and  desperate  ban- 
«  ditti. 

"  The  House  of  Commons  have  been  much  censured, 
"  for  the  want  of  resolution  and  spirit  in  not  immedi- 
"  ately  committing,  upon  the  arrival  of  the  guards  at 
"  night,  their  own  member  to  the  Tower,  who  had,  by  so 
"  shameful  a  violation  of  their  privileges,  involved  them 
"  in  a  scene  of  such  unequalled  danger  and  disgrace.  It 
"  has  even  been  said  that  a  measure  of  such  vigor  might 
"  have  prevented  all  the  horrid^  scenes  of  conflagration, 
"  plunder,  military  slaughter,  and  civil  execution  that 
"  afterwards  took  place ;  and  it  has  been  argued,  from 
"  the  passive  conduct  of  the  mob,  some  years  ago,  upon 
"  the  committal  of  the  Lord  Mayor  Crosby  and  of  Alder- 
"  man  Oliver  to  the  Tower,  that  it  would  not  have  been 
"  attended  with  any  ill  consequence. 


(( 


;^- 


m 


V 


PROTESTANT   REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND. 


259 


"  It  is,  however,  to  be  remembered,  that  danger  is 
"  considered  in  a  very  different  manner  by  those  who  are 
"  entirely  out  of  its  reach,  and  even  by  the  same  persons 
*'  under  iwS  immediate  impression.  The  circumstances 
"  were  likewise  widely  and  essentially  different.  Reli- 
<'  gious  mobs  are,  at  all  times,  infinitely  more  dangerous 
"  and  cruel  than  those  which  arise  on  civil  or  political 
"  occasions.  What  country  has  not  groaned  under  the 
"  outrages  and  horrors  of  fanaticism  ?  or  where  have 
"  they  ever  been  quelled  but  in  blood  ?  This  mob  was 
"  much  more  powerful  and  numerous,  as  well  as  danger- 
"  ous,  than  any  other  in  remembrance.  The  force  of  the 
"  associates  was,  on  that  day,  whole  and  entire,  which  it 
"  never  was  after.  The  intense  heat  of  the  weather, 
"  which  necessarily  increased  their  inebriation,  added  fire 
"  to  their  religious  fury ;  and  rendering  them  equally 
"  fearless  and  cruel,  no  bound  could  have  been  prescribed 
"  to  their  enormities. 

"  The  situation  of  the  lords  was  still  worse  than  that 
"  of  the  commons.  Besides  that  the  malice  of  the  riot- 
"  ers  was  pointed  more  that  way,  they  were  not  under 
"  the  restraint  of  any  application  to  them  for  redress. 
"  The  appearance  of  the  lords,  who  had  passed  through 
"  their  hands,  every  thing  about  them  in  disorder,  and 
"  their  clothes  covered  wi^  ,  dirt,  threw  a  grotesque  air 
"  of  ridicule  upon  the  whole,  which  seemed  to  heighten 
"  the  calamity.  A  pro|K>sal  was  made  to  carry  out  the 
"  mace ;  but  it  was  apprehended  that  peradventure  it 
"  might  never  return.  In  a  word,  so  disgraceful  a  day 
"  was  never  beheld  before  by  a  British  Parliament. 

"  In  the  midst  of  the  confusion,  some  angry  debate 
"  arose,  the  lords  in  opposition  charging  the  ministers  with 
"  being  themselves  the  original  cause  of  all  the  i.uschiefs 
"  that  had  already  or  mi^ht  happen,  by  their  scandalous 
"  and  cowardly  concessions  to  the  rioters  in  Scotland, 
"  and,  at  the  same  time,  calling  them  loudly  to  account 
*'  for  not  having  provided  for  the  present  evil,  of  which 
"  they  had  so  much  previous  notice,  by  having  the  civil 
"  power  in  readiness  for  its  prevention.  To  this  it  was 
''  answered,  by  a  noble  earl  in  high  office,  that  orders  had 


••* 


'^',.''  ■•■''"^-,' 


--SBite" 


26a 


,0      ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE      g^ij       \ 


(( 


(( 


been  given,  on  the  preceding  day,  for  the  attendance 
"  of  the  magistrates ;  but  two  of  those  gentlemen,  wha* 
"  happened  to  be  in  the  way,  being  sent  for  and  exam- 
"  ined,  declared  they  had  neither  heard  of  nor  received 
"  any  such  order. 

.  "  before  the  rising  of  the  House  of  Commons,  several 
**  parities  of  the  rioters  had  filed  off,  and  proceeded  to 
"  th4  demolition  of  the  chapels  belonging  to  the  Sardin*^ 
^^  ian  and  Bavarian  ministers.  The  commons  adjourned 
"  to  the  6th ;  but  the  lords  met  on  the  following  day, 
and  agreed  to  *  a  motion  for  an  address,'  made  by  the 
lord  president,  '  requesting  his  majesty  to  give  immedi- 
ate orders  for  prosecuting,  in  the  most  effectual  man- 
"  ner,  the  authors,  abetters,  and  instruments  of  the  out- 
"  rages  committed  the  preceding  day,  both  in  the  vicinity 
"  of  the  houses  of  Parliament,  and  upon  the  houses  and 
"  chapels  of  several  of  the  foreign  ministers.'  On  the 
"  6th,  above  two  hundred  members  of  the  House  of 
"  Commons  had  the  courage,  notwithstanding  the  dread- 
"  ful  conflagrations  and  mischiefs  of  the  two  preceding 
"  nights,  the  destruction  threatened  to  several  of  them- 
"  selves,  in  their  persons  and  houses,  and  which  had  al- - 
"  ready  fallen  upon  the  house  of  Sir  George  Saville,  in 
"  Leicester  Fields,  to  make  their  way  through  the  vast 
"  crowds  which  filled  the  streets,  and  which  were  inter- 
"  laced  and  surrounded  by  large  detachments  of  the  mil- 
"  itary  on  foot  and  on  horseback.  They  found  West- 
"  minster  Hall,  and  the  avenues  to  the  house,  lined  with 
"  soldiers;  upon  which  a  celebrated  member  observed 
"  in  his  speech,  bewailing  the  deplorable  situation  to 
"  which  Parliament  was  reduced,  that  they  had  a  blud- 
"  geoned  mob  waiting  for  them  in  the  street,  and  a  mili- 
"  tary  force,  with  fixed  bayonets,  at  their  doors,  in  order 
"fh»^  support  and  preserve  the  freedom  of  debate.  h' 
"  They,  however,  passed  some  resolutions ;  one  being 
"  an  assertion  of  their  own  privileges ;  the  second,  for  a 
"  committee  to  inquire  into  the  late  and  present  outrages ; 
"  and  for  the  discovery  of  their  authors,  promoters,  and 
"  abetters ;  the  third,  for  a  prosecution  by  the  attorney 
*^  general ;  and  the  fourth,  an  address  to  his  majesty  for 


t( 


^ 


■p' 


PROTiE#I'AN¥  REPORTMAfl^lrtirELAND.  261 

"the  reimbursement  of  the  foreign  ministers  to  the 
"  amount  of  the  damages  they  had  sustained  by  the  riot- 
"  ers.  Another  resolution  was  moved  by  the  minister, 
"  for  proceeding  immediately,  when  the  present  tumults 
"  were  subsided,  to  take  into  due  consideration  the  peti*'^ 
"  tions  from  many  of  his  majesty's  Protestant  su^^cts.' 
"  Intelligence  being  received  of  the  conflagrations  t^hich 
"  were  commenced  in  the  city,  it  threw  every  thing  into 
"  new  confusion,  and  a  hasty  adjournment  took  place. 

"  Some  of  the  lords  likewise  met ;  but  the  impropriety 
"  of  their  proceeding  upon  any  public  business  in  the 
"  present  tumult,  and  surrounded  by  a  military  force,  be- 
"  ing  taken  into  consideration,  and  an  account  arriving, 
"  at  the  same  time,  that  the  first  lord  of  the  admiralty, 
"  in  his  way  to  the  house,  had  been  set  upon,  wounded, 
"  and  his  life  only  critically  saved  by  the  military,  they 
"  adjourned  to  the  19th. 

"  Never  did  the  metropolis,  in  any  known  age,  exhibit" 
"  such  a  dreadful  spectacle  of  calamity  and  horror,  or 
"  experience  such  real  danger,  terror,  and  distress,  as  on 
"  the  following  day  and  night.  It  is  said  that  it  was 
"  beheld  blazing  in  thirty-six  different  parts,  from  one 
"  spot.  Some  of  these  conflagrations  were  of  such  a 
"  magnitude  as  to  be  truly  tremendous.  Of  these,  the 
"jail  of  Newgate,  the  King's  Bench  prison,  the  new 
"  Bridewell  in  St.  George's  Fields,  the  Fleet  prison,  and 
"  the  houses  and  great  distilleries  of  Mr.  Langdale  in 
"  Holborn,  where  the  vast  quantity  of  spirituous  liquors 
"  increased  the  violence  of  the  flames  to  a  degree  of 
"  which  no  adequate  conception  can  be  formed,  presented 
"  spectacles  of  the  most  dreadful  nature.  The  houses 
"  of  most  of  the  Roman  Catholics  were  marked,  and 
"  many  destroyed  or  burned,  as  well  as  those  of  the  fpw 
"  magistrates  who  showed  any  activity  in  repressMlg 
"  those  tumults.  The  outrages  grew  more  violent  and 
"  general  after  the  breaking  open  of  the  prisons.  ~^ 

"  The  attacks  made  that  day  upon  the  Bank  roused 
"  the  whole  activity  of  the  government.  Great  bodies 
"  of  forces  had,  for  some  time,  been  collecting  from  all 
"  parts.     They  were  at  length  employed,  and  brought  on 


'**; 


i) 


262 


ATTEMPTS    TO   ESTABLISH    THE 


^% 


\ 


"  the  catastrophe  of  that  melancholy  night  which  fol« 
"  Idiwed.  Strong  detachments  of  troops  being  sent  into 
"  the  city,  and  the  attempts  on  the  Bank  and  other 
"  places  renewed,  a  carnage  then  inevitably  ensued,  in 
.  **  which  a  great  number  of  lives  were  lost.     Nothing ' 

**  cMd  b®  more  dismal  than  that  night.  Those  who 
**  WfpB  on  the  spot,  or  in  the  vicinity,  say  that  the  present 
*^  darkness,  the  gleam  of  the  distant  fires,  the  dreadful 
"  shouts  in  different  quarters,  the  groans  of  the  dying,  and 
"  the  heavy,  regular,  platoon  firing  of  the  soldiers,  formed 
"  all  together  a  scene  so  terrific  and  tremendous  as  no 
"  description,  or  even  imagination,  could  possibly  reach. 
"  The  metropolis  presented  on  the  following  day,  in 
"  many  places,  the  image  of  a  city  recently  stormed  and 
"  sacked ;  all  business  at  an  end,  houses  and  shops  shut 
"  up ;  the  Royal  Exchange,  public  buildings,  and  street* 
"  possessed  and  occupied  by  the  troops ;   smoking  and 

*"  burning  ruins ;  with  a  dreadful  void  and  silence,  in 
0..  4."  scenes  of  the  greatest  hurry,  noise,  and  business. 
.  "  The  House  of  Commons  met  on  the  following  day ; 
"  but,  although  the  rioters  were  entirely  quelled,  it  was 
"  immediately  noticed  that  the  city  of  Westminster  was 
**  under  martial  law ;  and  they  accordingly  adjourned  to 
"  the  19th.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  Lord 
"  George  Gordon  was  taken  into  custody,  at  his  house 
"  in  Welbeck  Street,  and  conveyed  to  the  Horse  Guards  ; 
"  and,  after  a  long  examination  before  several  lords  of 
"  the  privy  council,  he  was,  between  nine  and  ten  in  the 
"  evening,  conducted  (under  the  strongest  guard  that 
"  ever  was  known  to  attend  any  state  prisoner)  to  the 
"  Tower."  * 

These  fruits  of  the  Protestant  associations  threw  their 
cause,  for  a  season,  into  such  bad  odor,  that  the  discas- 
siifim  of  Catholic  principles  was  suspended.  In  1786,  it 
was  revived  by  Woodward,  Protestant  Bishop  of  Cloyne, 
in  an  Address  to  the  Nobility  and  Gentry  of  the  Prot- 
estant  Church,  and  another  work,   called  the   Present 


m 


*  Annual  Register  for  1780.    If  not  written  by  Burke,  this  account  ia 
a  close  imitation  of  his  style. 


■i^ 


•|,-' 


"•St 


A^ 


f 


^^ 


'  I 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


263 


State  of  the  Church  in  Ireland.  These  appeals  to  half- 
exhausted  prejudices  were  based  upon  four  documerits-: 
I.  The  oath  taken  by  Catholic  bishops  at  their  ordina- 
tion. XL  A  letter  of  Monsignor  Ghilini,  Nuncio  at 
Brussels,  to  the  Irish  bishops,  written  in  1768.  III.  The 
approbatory  comments  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Burke,  Biebop 
of  Ossory,  in  publishing  that  letter  in  his  Hibernia;  pd^ 
minicana.  IV.  The  agrarian  disturbances.  Dr.  Burke'* 
ultramontane  views  were  not  general  among  the  Irish 
bishops  of  his  day.  In  1775,  the  Munster  prelates,  in  a 
synod  at  Thurles,  had  condemned  his  book,  and  on  the 
appearance  of  Dr.  Woodward's  pamphlets.  Dr.  Butler, 
Archbishop  of  Cashel,  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Kenmare,  (dat- 
ed "  Thurles,  December  27,  1786,")  emphatically  repeat- 
ed their  previous  sentence.  Father  O'Leary  was  again 
induced  to  appear  as  a  controvertist,  and  his  letters  to 
Dr.  Woodward  equalled  in  point  his  letters  to  Wesley. 
His  contrp-^t  of  the  Protestant  bishops'  oath  with  the 
Catholic,  L  ;  )mments  on  the  Nuncio's  letter,  his 
proofs  of  t  ::ae  origin  of  the  agrarian  outrages,  and 
of  the  efforts  of  the  Catholic  prelates  to  suppress  them, 
did  great  good  in  their  day.  His  invariable  good 
humor  and  good  manners  lent  a  charm  to  his  style  alto- 
gether new  in  such  discussions.*  This  notable  contro- 
versy materially  advanced  the  Catholic  cause.  O'Leary 
was  complimented  by  Grattan,  in  his  place  in  Parlia- 
ment, and  elected  a  member  of  the  club  of  St.  Patvick* 
over  which  Curran  presided :  when  he  entered  the  reform 
convention,  some  years  later,  the  volunteers  presented 
arms.  For  his  services  in  quelling  the  agrarian  insurrec- 
tion, the  king  allowed  him  a  pension,  coupled  with  the 
condition  that  he  should  reside  in  London.  There,  la- 
boring among  his  poor  countrymen,  and  waited  upon  by 
the  literati  and  leaders  of  parties,  he  lived  for  several 
years,  writing  an  occasional  pamphlet,   and  collecting 


\ 


# 


•  ••  Some  years  aft^,  when  a  mutual  friend  inrited  him  (Wesley)  to 
meet  his  antagonist,  Father  O'Leary,  it  was  gratifying  to  both  parties  to 
meet  upon  terms  of  oourte&y  and  mutual  good  will>"  —  Southey»  Uft  of 


264 


*'i-«''     ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE  i^^        \ 


materials  for  a  history  of  Ireland.     His  tomb  is  in  St. 

Patrick's  Church,  Soho  Square.  ^ 

Notwithstanding  all  that  had  been  written,  the  cause 

of  the  Catholics,  in  the  third  decade  of  George  III.,  was 

.    at  a  low  ebb.    The  secession  of  the  sixty-eight  was  a  prac- 

*^»  tical  loss ;  weak  at=  they  were,  individually,  the  union  of 
so  many  heredit:  /  Catholic  names  had  been  of  very 
'  great  service  to  the  committee.  So  long  as  they  stood 
aloof,  the  committee  could  not  venture  to  speak  for  all 
the  Catholics ;  it  could  only  speak  for  a  part,  though 
that  part  was  nine  tenths  of  the  whole :  this  gave  a 
doubtful  and  hesitating  appearance,  m  those  years,  to  all 
their  proceedings.     So  low  was  their  political  influence, 

,,,     in  1791,  that  they  could  not  get  a  single  member  of  Par- 
liament to  present  their  annual  petition.     When,  at  last, 
S-        it  was  presented,  it  was  laid  on  the  table  for  three  days, 
and  then  literally  kicked  out.*      To   their  further  em- 

*  ^  barrassraent,  McKenna  and  some  others  formed  "  the 
Catholic  Society,"  with  the  nominal  purpose  of  spread- 
ing a  knowledge  of  Catholic  principles,  through  the 
press,  but,  covertly,  to  raise  up  a  rival  organization, 
under  the  control  of  the  seceders.  At  this  period  John 
Keogh's  talents  for  negotiation  and  diplomacy  saved 
the  Catholic  body  from  another  term  of  anarchical  imbe- 
cility. 

A  deputation  of  twelve,  having  waited  on  the  Irish 
secretary,  with  a  list  of  the  existing  penal  laws,  found 
no  intention,  at  the  castle,  of  further  concessions.  They 
were  "dismissed  without  an  inswer."  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, the  committee  met  at  Allen's  Court.  "  It 
was  their  determination,"  says  Keogh,  "  to  give  up  the 
cause  as  desperate,  lest  a  perseverance  in  what  they 
considered  an  idle  pursuit  might  not  only  pre  '  ineffect- 
ual, but  draw  down  a  train  of  persecrtion  on  the  body." 
Keogh  endeavored  to  rally  them  ;  proposed  a  delegation 
to  London,  to  be  sent  at  the  expense  of  the  committee ; 


#"■■ 


\  >•_-»«• 


*  Mr.  O'Neil,  member  of  Parliament  for  Antrim,  undertook  it,  but 
afterwards  declined :  it  was  subsequently  presented  late  in  the  session. 


*i 


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PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


265 


offered,  at  last,  to  go  at  h's  owh  charge,  if  they  author- 
ized him.  This  proposal  was  accepted,  and  Keogh 
went.  "  I  arrived  n  London,"  he  adds,  "  without  any 
introduction  from  this  country,  without  any  support, 
any  assistance,  any  instructions."  *  He  remained  three 
months,  converted  Mr.  Dundas,  brought  back  with  him 
the  son  of  Burke  as  secretary,  and  a  promise  of  four 
concessions:  I.  The  magistracy.  II.  The  grand  juries. 
III.  The  sheriffs  of  counties.  IV.  The  bar.  Upon  his 
return,  the  fullest  meeting  that  had  assembled  since  the 
Kenmare  secession  came  together  to  hear  his  report, 
ap.d  take  action  accordingly. 


??» 


*  Keogh's  account  of  his  visit  to  London.  Wyse's  History  of  the 
Catholic  Association,  vol.  ii.  Appendix,  No.  Y.  Charles  Butler  tells  a 
striking  anecdote  of  Keogh's  interview  with  Mr.  Dundas.  "  On  one  oc- 
casion, he  was  introduced  to  the  lato  Mr.  Dundas,  afterwards  Lord  Mel- 
ville. That  eminent  statesman  was  surrounded  by  several  persons  of 
distinction,  and  received  the  delegates  with  great  good  humor,  but 
some  state ;  a  long  conference  ensued,  and  the  result  was  not  favorable  to 
the  mission  of  Mr.  Keogh.  After  a  short  silence,  Mr.  Keogh  advanced 
towards  Mr.  Dundas  with  great  respect,  and,  with  a  very  obsequious, 
but  very  solemn  look  mentioned  to  him  that  •  there  was  one  thing 
which  it  was  essential  for  him  to  know,  but  of  which  he  had  not 
the  slightest  conception.'  He  remarked,  ♦  that  ii  was  very  extraordinary 
that  a  person  of  Mr.  Dundas's  high  situation,  and  one  of  his  own  hum- 
ble lot,  (he  was  a  tradesman  in  Dublin,)  should  be  in  the  same  room ; 
yet,  since  it  had  so  happened,  and  probably  would  not  happen  again,  he 
wished  to  avail  himseli'  of  the  opportunity  of  making  the  important  dis- 
closure, but  could  not  think  of  doing  it  without  Mr.  Dundas's  express 
permission,  and  his  promise  not  to  be  offended.'  Mr.  Dundas  gave  him 
this  permission  and  promise ;  still  Mr.  Keogh  was  all  humility  and  apol- 
ogy, and  Mr.  Dundas  all  condescension.  After  these  had  continued  for 
some  time,  and  the  expectation  of  every  person  present  was  wound  up 
to  its  highest  pitch,  Mr.  Keogh  approached  Mr.  Dundas  in  a  very  hum- 
ble attitude,  and  said,  *  Since  you  give  me  this  permission,  and  your 
deliberate  promise  not  fn  be  offended,  I  beg  leave  to  repeat,  that  there 
is  one  thing  which  you  ought  to  know,  but  which  you  don't  suspect  • 
you,  Mr.  Dundas,  know  nothing  of  Ireland.' 

"  Mr.  Dundas,  as  may  be  supposed,  was  g.  eatly  surprised  ;  but  with 
perfect  good  humor  told  Mr.  Keogh  that  he  believed  this  was  not  the 
case :  it  was  true  that  he  never  had  been  in  Ireland,  but  he  had  con- 
versed with  many  Irishmen.  '  I  have  drnnk,'  he  said,  '  many  a  good 
bottle  of  wine  with  Lord  Hillsborough,  Lord  Olare,  and  the  Beresfords. 
*  Yes,  sir,'  said  Mr.  Keogh,  '  I  believe  you  have ;  and  that  you  drank 
many  a  good  bottle  of  wine  with  them  before  you  went  to  war  with 
America. ' " 


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At  this  meeting,  thfe  promises  of  the  English  govern- 
ment were  contrasted  with  the  dogged  hostility  of  the 
castle.  The  necessity  of  a  stronger  organization,  to 
overcome  the  one  and  hasten  the  other,  was  felt  by  all : 
it  was  then  that  they  adopted  a  plan,  proposed  by  Myles 
Keon,  of  Keonbrook,  in  Leitrim,  to  turn  the  committee 
into  a  convenvlon.  By  this  plan,  the  Catholics  in  each 
county  and  borough  were  called  on  to  choose,  in  a 
private  manner,  certain  electors,  who  were  to  elect  two 
or  more  delegates,  to  represent  the  town  or  county  in 
the  general  meeting  at  Dublin,  on  the  3d  day  of 
December  following.  A  pircular,  signed  by  Edward 
Byrne,  chairman,  and  Richard  McCormick,  secretary, 
explaining  the  plan  and  the  mode  of  election,  was  issued 
on  the  14th  of  January,  and  the  Catholics  every  where 
prepared  to  obey  it.  \\ 

The  corporations  of  Dublin  and  other  cities,  the 
grand  juries  of  Derry,  Donegal,  Leitrim,  Roscommon, 
Limerick,  Cork,  and  other  counties,  at  once  pronounced 
most  strongly  against  the  proposed  convention.  They 
declared  it  "  unconstitutional,"  "  alarming,"  "most  dan- 
gerous ; "  they  said  it  was  a  copy  of  the  National  As- 
sembly of  France  ;  they  declared  that  they  would  "  resist 
it  to  the  utmost  of  their  power ; "  they  pledged  "  their 
lives  and  fortunes"  to  suppress  it.  The  only  answer 
of  the  Catholics  was  the  legal  opinion  of  Butler  and 
Burston,  two  eminent  lawyers,  Protestants  and  king's 
councillors,  that  the  measure  was  entirely  legal.  They 
proceeded  with  their  selection  of  delegates,  and  at  the 
appointed  day  the  convention  met.  From  the  place  of 
meeting,  this  convention  was  popularly  called  "  the 
Back  Lane  Parliament." 

After  organizing,  the  convention  proceeded  (Mr. 
Byrne  in  the  chair)  to  declare  itself  the  only  body  com- 
petent to  speak  for  the  Catholics  of  Ireland.  They  next 
discussed  the  substance  of  the  proposed  petition  to  the 
king.  The  debate  on  this  subject  is  in  itself  so  inter- 
esting, and  the  account  of  it  by  Tone  so  graphic,  that 
we  insert  here  his  report. 

"  The  generaJ  committee  next  resolved,  th^t  ^  petition 


V-  r_. 


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PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


267 


"  be  prepared  to  his  majesty^  stating  the  grievance  of 
"  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  and  praying  relief,  and  the 
"  members  of  the  sub-committee  were  ordered  to  bring 
"  in  the  same  forthwith,  which  being  done,  and  the 
"  petition  read  in  the  usual  forms,  it  was  again  read, 
"  paragraph  by  pai'agraph,  each  passing  unanimously, 
"  until  the  last.  A  spirited  and  intelligent  member, 
"  (Luke  Teeling,  Esq.,  of  Lisburn,  county  Antrim,)  who 
"  represented  a  great  northern  county,  then  rose  and  said, 
"  '  that  he  must  object  to  this  paragraph,  on  the  ground 
"  of  its  being  limited  m  its  demand.  His  instructions 
"  from  his  constituents  were  to  require  nothing  short  of 
"  total  emancipation ;  and  it  was  not  consistent  with  the 
"  dignity  of  this  meeting,  and  much  less  of  the  great  body 
"  whom  it  represented,, to  sanction,  by  any  thing  which 
"could  be  construed  into  acquiescence  on  their  part, 
"  one  fragment  of  that  unjust  and  abominable  system, 
"  the  penal  code.  It  lay  with  the  paternal  wisdom  of 
"  the  sovereign  to  ascertain  what  he  thought  fit  to  be 
"  granted,  but  it  was  the  duty  of  this  meeting  to  put 
"  him  fully  and  unequivocally  in  possession  of  the  wants 
"  and  wishes  of  his  people.'  He  therefore  moved, '  that, 
"  in  place  of  the  paragraph  then  read,  one  should  be  in- 
*>  serted,  pr^^ying  that  the  Catholics  might  be  restored  to 
*'  the  equal  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  the  constitu- 
«tion.' 

"  It  is  not  easy  to  describe  the  effect  which  that  speech 
"  had  on  the  assembly.  It  was  received  with  the  most 
"  extravagant  applause*  A  member  of  great  respect- 
"  ability,  and  who  had  ever  been  remarked  for  a  cautious 
"  and  prudent  system  in  his  public  conduct,  (D.  T. 
"  O'Brien,  Esq.,  of  Cork,)  rose  to  declare  his  entire  and 
"  hearty  concurrence  in  the  spirit  of  the  motioq.  *  Let 
"  us  not,'  said  he,  '  deceive  our  sovereign  and  our  coDstit- 
"  uents,  nor  approach  the  throne  with  a  suppression  of 
"  the  truth.  Now  is  our  time  to  speak.  The  whole 
"  Catholic  people  are  not  to  be  called  forth  to  acquiesce 
"  in  the  demandof  partial  relief.'  The  question  would 
"  now  have  been  carried  by  acclamation,  but  for  the  in- 
l^terposition  of  a  member,  to  whose  opinion,  fjcom  his 


lit 


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268 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


"  past  services  and  the  active  part  he  had  ever  taken, 
"  the  committee  were  disposed  to  pay  every  respect, 
**  (J.  Keogh.)  He  said,  <that  he  entirely  agreed  with 
"  the  spirit  of  the  motion,  and  he  was  satisfied  that  they 
"  had  but  to  ask  and  *V«;y  should  receive.  But  the 
"  meeting  had  already  despatched  a  great  deal  of  busi- 
"  ness,  the  hour  was  now  late,  and  the  question  wiks  of 
"  the  very  last  importance.*  *  Have  you,'  said  the  speak- 
"  er,  *  considered  the  magnitude  of  your  demand  and  the 
"  power  of  your  enemies  ?  Have  you  considered  the  dis- 
"  grace  and  the  consequences  of  a  refusal,  and  are  you 
"  prepared  to  support  your  claim  ? '  The  whole  assem- 
"  bly  rose,  as  one  man,  and,  raising  their  right  hands, 
"  answered,  '  We  are.'  It  was  a  sublime  spectacle. 
"  *  Then,'  continued  he,  *  I  honor  and  rejoice  in  a  spirit 
"  which  must  render  your  success  infallible ;  but  let  it 
"  not  be  said  that  you  took  up  a  resolution  of  this  infi- 
"  nite  magnitude  in  a  fit  of  enthusiasm.  Let  us  agree 
"  to  retire.  We  meet  again  to-morrow.  We  will  con- 
"  sider  this  question  in  the  mean  time,  and,  whatever  be 
"  the  determination  of  the  morning,  it  will  not  be  ac- 
"  cused  of  want  of  temperance  or  consideration.'  This 
"  argument  prevailed,  and  the  meeting  adjourned. 

"  But  the  business  of  the  day  was,  perhaps,  not  less 
"  effectually  promoted  by  the  convivial  parties  which 
"  followed  than  by  the  serious  debates  which  occupied 
"  the  sitting  of  the  committee.  Those  members  resident 
"  in  Dublin,  whom  it  had  been  the  policy  of  the  enemies 
"  to  Catholic  emancipation  to  grossly  malign  and  mis- 
"  represent  in  the  remote  parts  of  the  kingdom,  had 
"  taken  care  to  ofTer  the  rites  of  hospitality  to  the  dele- 
"  gates  from  the  country.  And,  in  unreserved  commu- 
"  cation,  both  parties  compared  their  common  griev- 
"  ances,  and  mutually  entered  into  each  other's  senti- 
"  ments.  All  distrust  v.as  banished  at  once,  and  a 
"  comparison  of  ideas  satisfied  them  that  their  interests 
"  were  one  and  the  same,  and  that  the  only  enemy  to  be 
"  dreaded  was  disunion  among  themselves.  The  dele- 
"  gate  from  Antrim,  who  sat  beside  the  delegate  from 
^  Kerry,  at  the  board  of  their  brother  in  the  capital, 


•*  ' 


4 


<■* 


m 


•*  » 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


269 


"  needed  but  little  argument  to  convince  him  that,  as 
"  the  old  maxim,  '  Divide  and  conquer,'  had  been  the 
"  uniform  rule  of  conduct  with  their  common  enemies, 
"  so  mutual  confidence  and  union  among  themselves 
*'  were  the  infallible  presage  and  most  certain  means  of 
"  securing  their  approaching  emancipation.  The  attri- 
"  tioB  of  parties,  thus  collected  from  every  district  of  the 
"  kingdom,  demolished  in  one  evening  the  barriers  of 
"  prejudice,  which  art  and  industry,  and  the  monopoliz- 
"  ing  spirit  of  corruption,  had,  by  falsehood  and  soothing, ' 
"  by  misrepresentation  and  menaces,  been  laboring  for 
"  years,  and  but  too  successfully,  to  establish  between 
«  them. 

"  In  this  spirit  the  assembly  met  on  the  next  day. 
"  The  business  was  opened  by  the  same  member  (L. 
"  Teeling)  who  had  introduced  the  amendment.  He 
"  stated  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Catholics  not  to 
"  wrong  themselves  by  asking  less  than  complete  eman- 
"  cipation ;  that  it  was  also  the  idea  of  their  friends  in 
"  the  province  from  whence  he  came,  and  this  coinci- 
"  dence  of  sentiments  would  establish  that  union,  from 
"  which  the  Catholic  cause  had  already  derived  such 
"  essential  benefit,  and  which  had  been  found  so  formi- 
"  dable  to  their  enemies.  Something  had  been  insinuat- 
"  ed  about  danger ;  he  saw  none :  violence  was  not  the 
"  interest  nor  the  wish  of  the  meeting.  '  But,'  contin- 
"  ued  he,  '  we  have  been  asked  what  we  will  do  in  case 
"  of  a  refusal.  I  will  not,  wheii  I  look  around  me,  sup- 
"  pose  a  refusal.  But,  if  such  an  event  should  take 
"  place,  our  duty  is  obvious.  We  are  to  tell  our  constit- 
"  uents ;  and  they,  not  we,  are  to  determine.  We  will 
"  take  the  sense  of  the  whole  people,  and  see  what  they 
"  will  have  done.'  Similar  sentiments  were  avowed  by 
"  every  men^ber  who  followed  him;  and,  on  tb*^  question 
"  being  put,  the  amendment,  praying  for  complete  resti- 
"  tution  of  the  rights  of  the  Catholics,  was  carried  by 
"  the  unanimous  acclamation  of  the  whole  assembly. 

"  It  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  perfect  secrecy  could 
"  be  preserved  in  so  numerous  a  meeting,  or  that  the  in- 
"  dustry  of  the  enemies  to  Catholic  freedom  should  not 

23* 


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ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


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"  be  exerted  in  so  important  a  crisis,  and  on  so  tnaterial 
"  a  question  as  that  which  was  now  determined  with 
"  such  unanimity.  On  the  morning  of  the  day  it  was 
"  whispered,  that,  if  the  prayer  for  complete  emancipa- 
"  tion  was  persisted  in,  a  large  number  of  the  moat 
"  respectable  country  delegates  would  instantly  quit  the 
"  meeting,  and  publish  their  dissent.  Whether  such  a 
"  measure  was  ever  seriously  intended  or  not  is  not  accu- 
"  rately  known.  Certainly,  had  it  been  carried  into 
**  execution,  a  secession  of  so  formidable  a  nature  would 
"  have  extremely  embarrassed,  if  not  totally  destroyed,  a 
"  system  which  had  cost  so  much  time  and  labor  to 
"  bring  to  its  present  state.  Be  that  as  it  may,  such  was 
"  the  force  of  virtuous  example,  so  powerful  the  effect 
"  of  public  spirit  in  an  assembly  uncontaminated  with 
"  places  or  pensions,  and  freely  chosen  by  the  people, 
"  that  not  a  murmur  of  dissent  was  heard ;  and  a  day 
"  which  opened  with  circumstances  of  considerable 
"  doubt  and  anxiety  terminated  in  the  unanimous  adop- 
"  tion  of  th^  great  principle  which,  whilst  it  asserted, 
"  secured  the  emancipation  of  the  Catholics. 

"  The  prayer  of  the  petition  having  been  thus  agreed 
*^  upon,*  it  was  proposed  (by  Mr.  Fitzgerald)  that  the 
"  signatures  of  the  delegates  should  not  be  affixed  until 
"  the  mode  of  transmission  should  be  first  determined. 
"  The  object  of  this  motion  was,  obviously,  to  embar- 
"  rass,  and,  if  possible,  to  prevent,  a  measure  which, 
"  from  the  spirit  of  the  meeting,  it  was  more  than  sus- 
"  pected  would  be  tried.  Apprehensions  were  entertained 
"  that  the  usual  form  in  presenting  petitions  Would  be 
"  broken  through,  and  that,  by  a  direct  application  to 
"  the  throne,  a  very  pointed  mark  of  disapprobation 
"  would  be  attached  on  the  government  of  this  country. 
"  If  to  prevent  administration  from  being  exposed  to 
"  such  an  insult  was  the  object  of  the  motiori,  it  failed 
"  completely.  The  committee  decreed,  that  the  signing 
"  the  petition  should  precede  all  debate  as  to  the  mode 
"  of  transmission.  And,  not  only  so,  but  it  was  unani- 
"  mously  resolved,  (on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Edward 
"  Sweetman,  of   Wexford,)  that  every  delegate  should 


f'.f'' 


'  ii. 


S^i  %^. 


PROTESTANT    REFORMAflON    IN    IRBLANIX  271 


^  instantly  pledge  himself  tc  support,  with  his  hand  and 
"  signature,  the  sense  of  the  majority  —  an  engagement 
"  which  was  immediately  and  solemnly  taken  by  the 
"  whole  assembly.  • 

"  The  petition  having  been  thus  agreed  upon  and 
"  signed,  the  important  question  arose  as  to  the  mode 
"  of  presenting  it  to  his  majesty.  The  usual  method 
"  had  been  to  deliver  all  former  addresses  to  the  lord 
"  lieutenant,  who  transmitted  them  to  the  king;  and, 
"  certainly,  to  break  through  a  custom  invariably  con- 
"  tinued  from  the  first  establishment  of  the  general 
"  committee,  was  marking,  in  the  most  decided  manner, 
"  that  the  Catholics  had  lost  all  confidence  in  the  ad- 
"  ministration  of  this  country.  But,  strong  asi  this 
"  measure  was,  it  was  now  to  be  tried.  The  petition 
"  having  been  read  for  the  last  time,  a  spirited  young 
"  member,  (Christopher  Dillon  Bellew,  Esq.,  of  Galway,) 
"  whose  property  gave  him  much,  and  his  talents  and 
"  virtues  still  more,  influence  in  the  ass-^mbly,  and  who 
"  represented  a  county  perhaps  the  first  m  Ireland  for 
"  Catholic  property  and  independence,  rose,  and  moved, 
"  without  preface,  that  the  petition  should  be  sent  to 
"  the  foot  of  the  throne,  by  a  deputation  to  be  chosen 
"  from  the  general  committee.  He  was  seconded  by  a 
"  delegate  from  a  county  adjacent  to  his  own,  (J.  J. 
"  McDonnell,  of  Mayo.) 

"  A  blow  of  this  nature,  striking  so  directly  at  the 
"  character,  and  almost  at  the  existence,  of  the  admin- 
"  istration,  could  scarcely  be  let  to  pass  without  some 
"  effort  on  their  part  to  prevent  it.  As  the  attack  had 
"  been  foreseen,  some  kind  of  a  negotiation  had  been 
"  attempted  with  individuals,  who  were  given  to  under- 
"  stand,  that,  if  the  petition  was  sent  through  the  usual 
"  channel,  administration  would  instantly  despatch  it 
"  by  express,  and  back  it  with  the  strongest  recommen- 
"  dations.  The  negotiation  was  not  yet  concluded  when 
"  the  dreaded  motion  was  made,  and,  with  some  dif- 
"  ficulty,  the  assembly  agreed  to  wait  half  an  hour  for 
"  the  result  of  one  more  interview.  There  can  hardly 
'^  be  imagined  a  revolution  more  curious  and  unexpected 


.,• 


#. 


972 


¥ 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


V 


•?<! 


**  than  that  which  was  occurring  in  the  general  com' 
"  mittee.  The  very  nnen  who,  a  few  months  before, 
**  could  not .  obtain  an  answer  at  the  castlo,  sat  with 
"  their  watches  in  their  hands,  minuting  that  govern- 
« ment  which  had  repelled  them  with  disdain.  At 
"  length  the  result  of  the  interview  was  made  known, 
*'  and  it  appeared  that  the  parties  had  either  mistaken 
«  each  othr  ,  or  their  powers,  or  the  intentions  of  the 
"  administration,  for  it  was  stated  by  the  member  (Mr. 
"  Keogh)  who  reported  it,  that  what  had  been  supposed 
**  to  be  offered  was  merely  a  conversation  between  a 
"  very  respectable  individual  and  himself,  but  he  had 
"  nothing'  to  communicate  from  any  authority.  This, 
"  which  the  majority  of  the  assembly  considered,  whether 
"  justly  or  not,  as  an  instance  of  duplicity  in  adminis- 
"  tration,  and  as  trifling  with  their  own  time  and  dig- 
"  nity,  determined  them  to  stigmatize,  as  far  as  in  them 
"  lay,  a  government  which  they  now  looked  upon  as 
"  having  added  insult  to  injury.  *  Will  you,'  cried  the 
"  orator,  (Keogh,)  'trust  your  petition  with  such  men?' 
"  The  assembly  answered  with  a  unanimous,  repeated, 
"  and  indignant  negative  — '  No ! ' 

"  Yet  still  a  few  individuals  were  found  who  started 
"  at  the  idea  of  fixing  so  gross  an  insult  on  administra- 
«  tion,  (Messrs.  McKenna,  Fitzgerald,  D.  T.  O'Brien.)  It 
"  was  suggested,  rather  than  argued,  that  irwas  not  per- 
"  haps  respectful,  even  to  majesty  itself,  to  pass  over  with 
"  such  marked  contempt  his  representative  in  Ireland, 
"  and  that  the  usual  mode  was  the  most  constitutional, 
"  or,  at  least,  the  most  conciliatory.  But  the  spirit  of 
"  the  meeting  was  now  above  stooping  to  conciliate  the 
"  favor  of  those  whom  they  neither  respected  nor  feared. 
**  The  member  who  moved  the  question  (Mr.  C.  Bellew) 
"  again  rose  to  support  it.  He  said  he  did  not  ground 
"  his  motion  merely  on  the  insults  which  the  Catholics, 
"  through  their  delegates,  had  so  often  received,  but  on 
"  this,  that  he  had  no  confidence  in  men  who  kept  no 
"  faith  with  Catholics,  and  the  attempt  of  the  present 
**  day  had  satisfied  his  mind.  Faith  had  been  broken, 
"  even  with  those  gentlemen  (Lord  Kenmare  and  the 


A 


■;ts^. 


m 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


273 


•#^ 


"  sixty-eight)  who,  in  support  of  administration,  had  se* 
"  ceded  from  their  own  body.  The  engagement  entered 
"  into  with  them  had  been  mutilated  and  eurtaited.  *  It 
**  has  been  said,'  continued  he,  *  my  plan  is  disrespect- 
"  ful  to  administration.  J  answer,  it  is  intended  to  be  so. 
"  It  is  time  for  us  to  speak  out  like  men.  We  will  not, 
"  like  African  slaves,  petition  our  taskmasters.  Onf 
"  sovereign  will  never  consider  it  disrespectful,  that  we 
"  lay  before  his  throne  the  dutiful  and  humble  petition 
"  of  three  millions  of  loyal  and  suffering  subjects.  For 
"  my  part,  I  know  I  speak  the  sentiments  of  my  county. 
"  I  wish  my  constituents  may  know  my  condu  t;  and 
"  the  measure  which  I  have  now  proposed,  I  am  ready 
"  to  justify  in  any  way.'  These  were  strong  expression.^ ; 
"  they  were  followed  by  others  no  less  energetic,  <  We 
"  have  not  come  thus  far,'  said  a  delegate  from  the  west 
"  of  Ireland,  (Mr.  McDermott,  of  Sligo,)  *  to  stop  short  in 
"  our  career.  Gentlemen  tell  us  of  the  wounded  pride 
"  of  the  administration.  I  believe  it  will  be  wounded 
"  but  I  care  not ;  I  consider  only  the  pride  of  the  Catho- 
"  lies  of  Ireland.'  The  last  attempt  was  now  made  to 
"  postpone  the  further  consideration  of  the  qucvstion  until 
"  the  next  day ;  but  this  was  immediately  and  powerfully 
"  resisted.  *  We  will  stay  all  night,  if  necessary,'  cried  a 
"  spirited  young  member,  (P.  Russell,  of  Louth,)  'but  this 
"  question  must  be  decided  before  we  part  If  it  go 
"  abroad  that  you  waver,  you  are  undone.'  *  Let  us 
"  mark,'  cried  another,  (J.  Edw.  Devereux,  Esq.,  of  Wex- 
"  ford,)  '  our  abhorrence  of  the  measures  of  Ou/  nemies, 
"  for  they  are  the  enernies  of  Ireland.  The  picsent  ad- 
"  ministration  has  not  the  confidence  of  the  people,^  The 
"  whole  assembly  confirmed  his  words  by  a  general  ex- 
"  clamation,  'No!  No!'  'Our  allegiance  and  attach- 
"  ment  are  to  King,  Lords,  and  Commons,  not  to  a  bad 
"  ministry,  who  have  calumniated  and  reviled  us  through 
"  the  kingdom.'  His  assertions  were  ratified  by  repeated 
"  andf  universal  plaudits. 

"  The  question  on  the  original  motion  was  at  length 
"  unanimously  decided  in  the  affirmative.  By  passing 
^  ov«r  the  admini&tratioa  of  thek  oouiltry,  in  a  studied 


*- 


274 


-*■■ 


^      '-^■ 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


T  V 


"  and  deliberate  manner,  and  on  solemn  debate,  the 
"  general  committee  published  to  all  the  world,  that  his 
"  majesty's  ministers  in  Ireland  had  so  far  lost  the  con- 
"  fidence  of  no  less  than  three  millions  of  his  subjects, 
"  that  they  were  not  even  to  be  intrusted  with  the  de- 
"  livery  of  their  petition.  A  stigma  more  severe  it  has 
"  not  been  the  fortune  of  many  administrations  to  receive. 
"  The  general  committee  (December  7)  proceeded  to 
"  choose,  by  ballot,  five  of  their  body,  who  should  present 
"  their  petition  to  his  majesty  in  person ;  and  the  gentle- 
"  men  appointed  Vvcre  Edward  Byrne,  John  Keogh, 
"  Christopher  Dillon  Bellew,  James  Edward  Devereux, 
"  and  Sir  Thomas  French.  The  only  instruction  they 
"  received  was  to  adhere  strictly  to  the  spirit  of  the  pe- 
"  tition,  and  to  admit  nothing  derogatory  to  the  union, 

^  "  whicti  is  the  strength  of  Ireland.  And  this  instruction, 
"  for  greater  solemnity,  was  delivered  to  them,  engrossed 
*'  on  vellum,  signed  by  the  chairman,  and  countersigned 
"  by  the  secretary  of  the  meeting." 

These  delegates,  accompanied  by  the  secretary,  re- 
1.^  solved  to  go  by  Belfast  and  Scotland  to  London,  "there 
being  no  packet  boat  ready"  at  Dublin,  "  and  the  wind 
being  contrary."  This  accident  did  them  no  harm. 
Belfast  was  then  the  focus  of  the  United  Irishmen,  and 
of  the  liberality  of  the  north.  The  delegates  were  pub- 
licly received ;  their  expenses  were  paid  by  the  citizens, 
and  their  carriage  drawn  along  in  triumph  on  the  road 
to  Pert  Patrick. 

Arrived  at  London,  after  much  negotiation  and  delay 

^  with  ministers,  a  day  was  fixed  for  their  introduction  to 
the  king.  It  was  Wednesday,  the  2d  of  January,  1793. 
Standing  before  George  IIL,  ("who  received  them  very 

/  graciously,")  they  put  into  his  own  hands  the  petition  of 
their  constituents,  and  after  some  compliments,  with- 
drew.* In  a  few  days,  they  were  assured  their  case 
would  be  recommended  in  the  next  royal  speech,  and  so 
leaving  one  of  their  number  behind  as  "  charge  d'affaiies," 
they  returned  to  Dublin,  to  leport. 


*  See  Appendix,  Na  IV.,  &»  tliifl  most  iatezesting  dooome&t,  with  all 
the  signalnutBS.  -  ^-  W  "       "^ 


» 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


275 


i:  'The  castle  again  capitulated:  the  secretary,  who,  a 
year  before,  would  not  listen  to  a  petition,  now  labored 
to  fix  a  limit  to  concession.  The  demand  of  complete 
emancipation,  unfortunately,  (perhaps,)  was  not  main- 
tained in  this  negotiation  as  nrmly  as  in  the  December 
debates.  The  news  of  the  execution  of  the  king  of 
France ;  the  efforts  of  the  secret  committee  of  the  House 
of  Lords  to  inculpate   certain  Catholic  leaders  in  the 

^United  Irish  system,  and  as  patrons  of  the  Defenders ; 

'the  telling  argument,  that  to  press  all  was  to  risk  all,-*- 
these  causes  combined  to  induce  the  sub-committee  to 
consent  to  less  than  the  convention  had  decided  to  insist 
upon.  Negotiation  was  the  strong  ground  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  they  kept  it.  Finally,  the  bill  was  intro- 
duced, and  on  the  9th  day  of  April,  1793,  it  became  the 

Jaw  of  Ireland.     "  By  one  comprehensive  clause,"  says 

TTone,  "  all  penalties,  forfeitures,  disabilities,  and  inca- 
"  pacities  are  removed;  the  property  of  the  Catholic  is 
"  completely  discharged  from  the  restraints  and  liraita- 
"  tions  of  the  penal  laws,  and  their  liberty,  in  a  great 
"  measure,  restored,  by  the  restoration  of  the  right  of 
*'  elective  franchise,  so  long  withheld,  so  ardently  pur- 
"  sued.  The  right  of  self-defence  is  established  by  the 
"  restoration  of  the  privilege  to  carry  arms,  subject  to  a 
"  restraint,  which  does  not  seem  unreasonable,  as  ex- 
"  eluding  none  but  the  very  lowest  orders.  The  unjust 
"  and  unreasonable  distinctions  affecting  Catholics,  as  to. 
"  service  on  grand  and  petty  juries,  are  done  away ;  the 
"  army,  navy,  and  all  other  offices  and  places  of  trust  are 
"  opened  to  them,  subject  to  exceptions  hereafter  men- 
"  tioned.  Catholics  may  be  masters  or  fellows  of  any 
"  college  hereafter  to  be  founded,  subject  to  two  con- 
"  ditions,  that  such  college  be  a  member  of  the  univer- 
"  sity,  and  that  it  be  not  founded  exclusively  for  the 
"  education  of  Catholics.  They  may  be  members  of  any 
"lay  body  corporate,  except  Trinity  College,  any  law, 

: "  statute,  or  by-law  oif  such  corporation  to  the  contrary 
"  notwithstanding.  They  may  obtain  degrees  in  the 
"  University  of  Dublin.  These,  and  some  lesser  immu- 
"  nitiofi  aaa*  privileges,  constitute  the  grant  of  the  billt 


' 


. -v.      *., 


iSft- 


ffr/v  '9?mi|R 


**' 


276 


ATTEMPTS   TO   fiStABLlSH   THfi    ^ 


\ 


K> 


"  the  value  of  which  will  be  best  ascertained  by  refeinping 
"  to  the  petition.  From  comparison,  it  will  appear  that 
"  every  complaint  recited  has  been  attended  to ;  every 
"  grievance  specified  has  been  removed.  Yet  the  prayer 
"  of  the  petition  was  for  general  relief.  The  bill  is  not 
*♦  coextensive  with  the  prayer.  The  measure  of  redress 
"  must,  however,  be  estimated  by  the  extent  of  the  pre* 
**  vious  suffering  and  degradation  of  the  Catholics  set 
**  forth  by  themselves;  and  in  this  point  of  view,  the  bill 
"  will  undoubtedly  justify  those  who  admitted  that  it 
"  afforded  solid  and  substantial  relief. ''* 

In  truth  it  was  a  very  great  victory  over  the  policy  of 
the  reformation.  Catholics  were  still  excluded  from  the 
high  pflices  of  lord  lieutenant,  lord  deputy,  and  lord 
chancellor.  What  was  much  more  important,  they  were 
excluded  from  sitting  in  Parliament  —  from  exercising 
legislative  power.  Still  the  franchise,  the  juries,  the 
professions,  and  the  universities  were  important  conces* 
sions.  The  ferocious  penal  code  was  a  wreck  from  and 
after  the  9th  day  of  April,  1793. 

In  the  same  session  of  Parliament,  "the  convention 
act  against  representative  assemblies  "  was  passed,  which 
is  still  the  law  in  Ireland. 

The  sub-committee  having  met  to  return  thanks  io  the 
parliamentary  fathers  of  the  bill,  their  own  future  opera- 
tions became  also  a  topic.  Some  members  advised  that 
they  should  add  "  reform "  to  their  programme^  as  the 
remnant  of  the  penal  laws  were  not  sufficient  to  interest 
and  attract  the  people.  Some  would  have  gone  much 
further  than  reform ;  some  were  well  content  to  rest  on 
their  laurels.  There  were  ultras,  moderate  men,  and 
conservatives  even  in  the  twelve.  The  latter  were  more 
numerous  than  Wolfe  Tone  liked  or  expected*  That  ar* 
dent  but  rather  unscrupulous  politician  had,  indeed, 
at  bottom,  a  strong  dislike  of  the  Catholic  religion ;  he 
united  himself  with  them  because  he  needed  a  party ;  he 
remained  with  them  because  it  gave  him  importance; 
but  he  used  his  position  to  further  an  ulterior  design  —  an 
Irish  revolution  and  republic  on  the  French  plan.  The 
example  of  France  became  rather  a  terror  than  an  atfx^c- 


^.'♦ilfe.-i 


#' 


•M 


PROtRSTANt    REPORMAtlON    IN   IRELAND. 


277 


*  The  patriots  in  Parliament  were  equally  conservative.  Grattan, 
Plunkett,  &c.,  strongly  supported  the  war ;  the  radicals,  on  Sir  Law- 
rence Parson's  division,  counted  only  nine  vOtes. 

t  Dr.  Burke,  or  De  Burgo,  one  of  the  ablest,  if  not  the  very  ablest) 
Irish  prelate  of  this  century,  was  born  in  Dublin  in  170d,  and  died  in 
Kilkenny  in  1786.  He  studied  at  Home,  was  Originally  a  Dominican, 
and  rector  of  the  College  of  Saints  Sixtus  and  Clement.  He  was  conse* 
crated  bishop  by  Primate  Blake  at  Droghedai  in  1759> 


tion  to  older  and  wiser  men  than  Tone.  Edward  Byrne, 
Sir  Tiiomas  French,  and  other  eminent  Catholics  were 
openly  hostile  to  any  imitation  of  it)  and  the  Catholic 
dinner  at  Daly's,  to  celebrate  the  passage  of  the  latt  bill, 
was,  in  spirit,  strongly  anti-Ghillican.*  , 

Keogh,  McCormick,  and   McNevin,  however,  joined  ^      11 

the  United  Irishmen,  and  the  two  latter  were  placed  on 
the  directory.  Keogh  withdrew,  when,  in  1795,  it  first 
became  a  secret  society. 

The  bishops,  who  had  cheered  on,  rather  than  partici- 
pated in,  the  late  struggle,  were  well  satisfied  with  the 
new  relief  bill  as  passed.     They  were,  by  education  and 
conviction,  conservatives.     Dr.  Plunkett  of  Meath,  Dr» 
Egan  of  Waterford,  Dr.  Troy  of  Dublin,  and  Dr.  Moy 
Ian  of  Cork,  were  the  most  remarkable  for  influence  and        - 
ability  at  this  period.     Dr.  Butler  of  Cashel,  and  his  '  m^ 
opponent.  Dr.  Burke  of  Ossory,  the  head  of  the  brave     * 
old  ultramontane  section,  were  both  recently  deceased.f 
With  the  exception  of  the  apostate  Dr.  James  Butler, 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  and  Ross,  who  deserted  his  faith  and 
order  on  becoming  unexpectedly  heir  to  an  earldom,  the 
Irish  prelates  of  tlie  reign  of  George  III.  were  a  highly*         j^ 
accomplished  and  devoted  body.     Lord  Dunboyne's  fall 
was  the  only  cause  of  a  reproach  within  their  own  ranks» 
That  unhappy  prelate  made,  many  years  afterwards,  a 
death-bed  repentance,  was  reconciled  to  his  church,  and 
bequeathed  a  large  part  of  his  inherited  wealth  to  found 
the  Bourse  at  Maynooth  which  bears  his  name. 


▼  ■  »•. 


I  la 

1 


^ 


24 


r   '^K.:...    .^(Wi.'i^.-t'Vb''  i\*VV' 


# 


''>«\'*!>,„., 


^^,  v'**'***.,,  -V*?*^.. 


^- 


278 


#' 


>'- 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLICH  THE  JM 


CHAPTER   IV. 

MAYNOOTH    COILEGE     FOUNDED UNION    OF     DEFENDEW3    AND 

UNITED  IRISHMEN INSURRECTION  OF  1796.  —  FALSEHOODS  CON- 
CERNING CATHOLICS  ENGAGED  IN  IT. -PROPOSED  LEGISLATIVE 
UNION. -PITT  AND  THE  BISHOPS.  — THE  ACT  OF  UNION;  ITS  RE- 
SULTS ON  THE  CATHOLIC  CAUSE. 


"t"TO! 


The  French  revolution,  so  fruitful  of  other  changes, 
intimately  affected  the  minds  of  men  in  Ireland.  In 
1792  and  1793,  the  Irish  students  began,  to  abandon  the 
French  colleges,  and  the  next  year  those  colleges  were 
confiscated  to  the  state.  At  this  period  the  Irish  pos- 
sessed three  hundred  and  forty-eight  bourses  in  France, 
and  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  in  the  two  penin- 
sulas. To  have  these  sources  of  instruction  suddenly 
closed  against  them  was  a  loss  which  stimulated  the 
Irish  hierarchy  to  seek  for  some  adequate  substitute. 

For  several  years  previous,  many  men  had  advocated 
the  necessity  of  native  Catholic  colleges.  In  1792,  Dr. 
^  Bellew  had  visited  Dublin  with  a  plan  for  a  provincictl 
college  in  Con  naught.  At  the  suggestion  of  Keogh  and 
Tone,  who  consulted  Kirwan,  the  philosopher,  upon  it, 
the  bishop  extended  his  plan  so  as  to  embrace  the  king- 
dom. Failing  to  procure  the  cooperation  of  Archbishop 
Troy,  the  proposal  lapsed.  About  the  same  time,  Ed- 
mund Burke  was  urging  upon  Pitt,  with  all  his  eloquence, 
the  importance  to  the  state  of  such  an  institution. 

In  1794,  the  Irish  bishops  unanimously  petitioned  the 
government  for  "a  royal  license"  to  establish  academics 
/  and  seminaries  for  clerical  education.  The  license  was 
.<;f5  nted,  and  the  Royal  College  of  St.  Patrick  was  begun 
tit  Maynooth,  in  Kildare,  about  a  dozen  miles  from 
Dublin.  During  "  the  recess  "  of  the  legislature,  the  min- 
*ister  became  convinced  of  the  soundness  of  Burke's  argu- 
ments, and  in  the  n';xt  session,  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
crown,  the  sum  of  eight  thousand  pounds  per  annum 
was  voted,  as  a  grant  to  the  new  institution.  The  vote 
(which  was  unanimous)  was  coupled  with  conditions, 


s 


•«-«>rS,^ 


f^Ki-:-''^''"^^'*m^. 


'^t^^Sf^*^' 


?Wk- 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


279 


that  the  students  entering  should  take  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance, and  that  a  board  of  visitors,  appointed  by  the 
crown,  were  to  make  an  annual  inspection  of  the  college. 
The  act  of  35  George  III.  c.  21,  was  passed  on  the  5th 
of  June,  1795,  being  the  last  day  of  the  session.  On  the 
same  day,  in  proroguing  the  Irish  Parliament,  the  lord 
lieutenant  observed  that  "  a  wise  foundation  had  been 
laid  for  educating  at  home  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy." 

Dr.  Huipsey,  the  intimate  friend  of  Burke,  and  after- 
wards Bisjhop  of  Waterford,*  was  appointed  first  presi- 
dent; and  learned  professors,  many  of  them  refugees 
from  the  continental  revolution,  were  presented  to  the 
several  chairs  of  theology,  philosophy,  and  science ;  and 
from  that  period  until  the  present,  St.  Patrick's  College 
has  been  steadily  growing  in  power  and  in  reputation. 

An  episode  in  Irish  history,  which  for  many  years 
changed  the  whole  course  of  Irish  politics,  next  demands 
our  attention :  we  allude  to  the  union  of  Defenders  and 
United  Irishmen,  which  preceded  and  produced  the  in- 
surrection of  1798. 

Both  of  these  associations  originated  in  Ulster,  and 
neither  v/as,  at  first,  secret.     The  Defenders  originated  in 

*  Dr.  Thomas  Hussey  was  one  of  the  ablesi;  men  of  the  Irish  church 
in  his  day.  Educated  (we  believe)  in  a  Spanish  college,  he  made  the 
tour  of  Europe  as  guardian  of  a  young  Englishman,  son  to  Sir  John 
Webb.  At  Paris,  Vienna,  and  Rome,  his  talents  and  character  were  very 
highly  esteemed.  Returning  to  England,  he  became  chaplain  to  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  and,  in  1790,  was  appointed  by  the  English  Catholic 
committee  their  agent  at  Rome.  The  ambassador  refusing  to  consent, 
he  resigned  that  appointment,  and,  in  1795,  was  made  president  i  .  May- 
nooth.  He  attended  his  friend  Edmund  Burke  on  his  death  bed,  •  Bea- 
consfield,  two  years  later,  and  is  stated  to  have  received  that  illustrious 
man  into  the  Catholic  communion.  "  His  eloquence  in  the  pulpit,"  say* 
Charles  ButJer,  "  was  really  great ;  but  it  rather  subdued  than  satisfied 
the  reason."  Mentioning  a  particular  serrnon,  on  the  small  number  of 
the  elect,  the  same  writer  says,  ••  During  i,ue  whole  of  this  apostrophe, 
the  audience  was  agonized.  At  the  ultimate  interrogatir  .  there  was  a 
general  shriek,  and  some  fell  on  the  ground.  This  was:  the  greatest 
triumph  of  eloquence  which  the  writer  has  chanced  to  witness."  —  A/e- 
moira  of  the  Catholics,  vol.  iv.  p.  438.  —  He  presided  over  Maynooth  only 
a  short  time,  was  removed,  partly  through  the  representations  of  the 
ministry,  but  was  soon  after  made  Bishop  of  Waterford.  He  died  early  in 
the  century,  having  a  reputation  among  his  oontemporariee  second  to  none 
for  varied  and  cultivated  abilities. 


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ATTEMPTS   TO   ESrVBLlSH    THR 


DoWn,  about  1791,  in  opposition  to  the  "Peep-o'-day 
Boys,"  whose  rule  was  to  serve  Catholic  tenants  with 
midnight  notices  to  quit  their  holdings,  and  choose  '*  hell 
or  Cohnaught"  for  their  future  residence.  At  first  eon 
fined  to  the  estate  of  Lord  Do^vnshire,  they  soon  spre;iid 
into  Armagh,  Monaghon,  and  Cavan,  thence  to  Meath 
and  Kildare,  and  thence  southward.  The  Uni  td  Ir.  oil- 
men originated  at  Belfast,  where,  in  October,  1791,  thi*. 
first  club  was  torraed  by  Samuel  NellsoLi,  the  brcthers 
Simms,  McCabe,  Wolfe  Tone,  and  some  cihers.  From 
Belfast  the  system  spread  to  Dublin,  where  Olivrr  Bend, 
Richard  MeCormick,  the  elder  Emuiett,  Lord  Ed<vaid 
Fitzgerald,  and  ot!ier  eminent  men  were  admitted  About 
two  thirds  of  iii€  fouL'ders  of  this  system  were  infidels 
of  the  Freiich  schc  j1>  Tbtir  atiiilversaries,  phraseology, 
and  principles  w-ere  all  Freiich.* 

In  1793,  it  became  nocessay  for  the  Catholic  bishops 
to  issHf>  pastorals  against  the  Defenders,  and  for  the 
general  committ^ee  at  Dublin  to  condemn  their  riotous 
proceedings.  'Wolfe  Tone,  at  this  time  secretary  to  the 
Catholics  of  Leland,  had  imbibed  revolutionary  ideas  at 
B>  Ifast,  and  while  publicly  joining  in  these  disclaimers  of 
Dtfcnderism,  was  privately  working  for  a  union  between 
them  and  the  United  Irishmen.  The  facilities  of  ids 
positioi;  enabled  him  to  bring  this  design  to  some  matu- 
rity m  1/94,  shortly  before  his  forced  exile  to  America. 
It  was  not  without  much  difiS.culty  the  compact  was 
made,  nor  did  it  hold  together  without  continual  tinker- 
ing.    In  1793  in  Louth  and  Cavan,  in  1794  in  Meath, 

*  If  v.^  look  to  the  literature  of  the  insiirrection  for  prooia  of  its 
[French  principles,  we  will  find  thorn  at  every  page.  The  oath  of  associa- 
tion does  not  express  thenar,  being  couched  in  the  fdJowing  words :  «•  I, 
A.  B.,  in  the  presence  of  God,  do  pledge  myself  to  my  country,  that  I 
"rvill  use  \U  my  abUities  and  influence  in  the  attainment  of  an  impartial 
and  adc^aate  representation  of  the  Irish  nation  in  Parliament ;  au  '  as  a 
means  of  absolute  and  immediate  necessity  in  (he  establishment  t  hiS 
<jhief  good  of  Ireland,  I  wiU  endeavor,  as  much  «s  lies  in  my  ab-  to 
forward  a  be  »<;herhood  of  affection,  an  identity  of  interests,  a  conr  .u 

of  rights,  anf^  a  union  of  pov,  amon^-  Irieihmen  of  all  ■zy.^.fic  per- 
iJuasions,  without  which,  every  . .i-m  iu  FarUanAent  Haiist  Iri  p?*; i  <',  not 
national,  inadequate  tc  tlM>  Vvwii.,-),  delusive  to  the  wishes.  >  .4  ;jsutiifil- 
loieut  to  tihe  freedom  and  happiness  of  this  coo&tiiy,''  wc^ i  j:::,^i 


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PROTE8TANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


281 


and  in  1795  in  Armagh,  the  Catholics  and  sectaries 
were  engaged  in  many  hostile  conflicts.  These  were  got 
tolerably  under  by  1796 ;  the  two  bodies  were  apparently 
one  in  1797 ;  the  secret  organization  by  districts,  coun- 
ties, and  provinces,  was  complete ;  a  French  fuse  alone 
was  needed  to  explode  the  entire  mine.  This  requisite 
j>*"ing  too  long  delayed  gave  occasion  for  the  organiza- 
c'iOn  to  be  broken  up  piecemeal,  and  with  every  piece 
some  fragment  of  the  constitutional  liberties  of  1782 
was  torn  away. 

For  two  years  the  secret  union  had  held  together,  in  spite 
of  imprisonment  on  suspicion,  and  the  torture  of  hundreds 
to  extract  evidence.  State  trials  for  seditious  and  trea- 
sonable offences  had  been  going  on  for  four  years;  print- 
ers, writers,  and  orators,  the  Orrs,  Finertys,  and  Drennans 
being  the  chief  accused,  and  Curran,  Emmett,  Sampson, 
and  McNally,  the  chief  council  for  the  defence.  Clare, 
Castlereagh,  and  Carhampton  goaded  on  the  multitude, 
as  eager  for  the  banquet  of  blood  as  the  ghosts  that  rose 
to  drink  of  that  shed  in  sacrifice  to  Pluto  by  Ulysses. 
Still  waiting  for  France,  the  United  Directory  debated, 
until  a  final  meeting  was  fixed  for  the  12th  of  March, 
1798,  at  the  house  of  Oliver  Bond,  in  Bridge  Street, 
Dublin.  On  that  night.  Bond,  O'Connor,  and  others 
were  arrested,  being  betrayed  by  Thomas  Reynolds,  who 
held  the  rank  of  colonel  in  the  insurrection.  McNevin, 
Emmett,  and  Sampson  were  arrested  in  the  course  of  a 
few  days,  and  two  months  after.  Lord  Edward  Fitzger- 
ald was  cpptured  in  his  hiding-place  in  Thomas  Street, 
after  a  desperate  struggle.  In  April,  Wexford  county 
rose,  and  for  three  months  fought  against  five  armies,  all 
concentrated  on  her  heroic  soil.  In  May,  there  were 
risings  in  Kildare  and  Wicklow,  which  commenced  gal- 
lantly and  successfully ;  at  the  same  time,  partial  risings 
took  place  in  'o\v.i.  and  Antrim,  in  which  great  courage 
wap  show'  But  the  August  tsun  went  down  on  the 
ripened  l>vi  vests  of  Clare,  Castlereagh,  and  Carhampton. 
Four  noble  counties  in  Lsinster  c nd  two  in  Ulster  v^ere 
disfigured  from  end  to  end  v/ith  blood,  Ilaif  a  dozen 
puests  and  Presbyterian  ministers  perished  in  the  com- 
24* 


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282  X.t       ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE  ^ 

mon  cause.  Humbert's  descent  on  Killala  made  Con- 
naught  a  later  participator  in  the  lofty  hopes  and  cruel 
^realities  of  the  insurrection.  Scaffolds  rose  in  every  quar- 
ter of  a  suspected  district ;  jails  were  choked  with  prison- 
ers ;  convict  ships  groaned  with  exiles,  sent  to  serve  under 
the  flag  of  Prussia,  or  to  follow  Abercrombie  into  Egypt 
Tone  came  at  last  from  France ;  too  late  to  serve  his 
cause,  but  not  too  late  to  perish  heroically  with  it.  Fitz- 
gerald had  preceded  him,  dying  a  prisoner ;  Emmett, 
McNevin,  Sampson,  O'Connor,  were  in  Fort  George, 
destined  to  die  in  America  or  France  ;  Neilson,  McCabe, 
Corbet,  Sweetman,  shared  their  fate,  or  anticipated  their 
banishment.  The  winter  days  of  1798  were  the  saddest 
that  for  a  century  had  darkened  over  Ireland. 

The  majority  of  the  leaders  in  the  insurrection  of 
1798  were  undoubtedly  Presbyterians  and  Protestants, 
who  had  imbibed  French  principles.  Several  Catholics 
acted  cordially  with  them,  and  in  the  rising  at  least 
three  clergymen  actively  cooperated  —  Fathers  Philip 
Roche,  Michael  Murphy,  and  John  Murphy.  At  Sculla- 
bogue  and  on  Wexford  Bridge,  the  Catholic  peasantry 
did  cruel  execution  on  several  prisoners,  then  defenceless. 
But  the  general  character  of  the  insurgents  was  merci- 
ful—  too  merciful  for  success.  When  we  consider  the 
provocations  they  had  borne  for  nearly  three  years,  we 
are  surprised  that  a  more  general  and  merciless  retalia- 
tion did  not  follow.  In  all  their  victories  they  spare-! 
the  women  and  children,  and  usually  the  men.  This  ail 
the  contemporary  records  prove  beyond  question.* 

*  This  merciful  disposition  of  the  Catholics  was  not  reciprocated, 
either  by  the  government  troops  or  the  Protestant  yeomanry.  The  wan- 
tonness with  which  they  shot  down  fugitives  and  unarmed  individuals, 
the  mutilation  of  the  deud  bodies,  as  at  Arklow,  contrast  most  unfavor- 
ably with  the  conduct  of  the  Catholics  when  victOrif>  is.  In  the  county 
of  Wexford  alone,  above  thirty  Catholic  chapels  were  destroyed  by  priv- 
ileged incendiaries  between  the  suppression  of  the  insurrection  and  the 
end  of  the  year  1801.  Rewards  were  offered  for  the  apprehension  of  the 
burglars  by  the  grand  jury  of  the  county ;  but  no  evidence  was  obtained. 
In  1799,  several  leases  of  Catholics  expired  in  that  county,  when  notices 
were  posted  up  by  the  Orange  Society,  declaring  that  "  no  Papist  *>'  ould 
toresume  to  take  the  lands."  '«T  e  lands  of  court,"  says  Mr.  Edyva^-^' 
Hay,  «•  thus  proscribed,  remained   vaate  for  nearly  two  yeaars."     In  t.^ 


.^\uki.^M.^^-~.,  .^ 


"  ♦- 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND.  283 


The  position  of  the  Irish  Catholic  rebels  was  an  un- 
natural one.  Their  Ulster  allies  were,  in  general,  prouder 
of  the  title  citizen  than  of  the  title  Christian ;  infidel 
France  was  to  be  their  ally  and  sponsor.  Wexford  was 
another  La  Vendee ;  how,  then,  could  it  warm  to  the  en- 
emies of  all  religion  ?  The  opposition  of  the  clergy  and 
bishops,  as  a  body,  was  another  sad  drawback  upon  their 
courage ;  for,  though  quite  ready  to  risk  their  bodies,  they 
wisely  feared  to  risk  their  souls.  It  must  be  granted 
they  behaved  valiantly,  and  their  descendants  have  no 
need  to  blush  over  the  story  of  1798 ;  but,  in  such  a  con- 
fusion of  political  principles,  it  was  well  they  failed. 
For  their  temporary  disobedience  of  their  pastors  they 
were  fearfully  punished  in  the  executions  of  1799  and 
1800.* 

In  those  years  the  ministers  ei  Dublin,  in  the  intervals 
of  military  preparation,  wptc  zealously  pushing  on  the 
old  project  of  "  legislative  union."  The  Catholics,  having 
become  a  social  power  since  1782,  and  a  political  power 
since  1793,  entered,  of  course,  into  the  calculations  both 
of  the  patriot  and  the  castle  party.  The  Catholic  com- 
mittee had  been  compromised  by  the  identification  of  so 
many  of  its  members  with  the  insurrection,  and  did  not 
reassemble  until  1805.  Government,  therefore,  could 
only  treat  with  the  bishops  on  behalf  of  the  whole  com- 
munity. 

The  remaining  penal  laws  were  left  untouched 
since   1793.     Two   years  later,  Lord   Fitzwilliam,  the 


same  county,  from  the  notorious  prejudices  of  the  juiy  class,  **  many 
prisoners  preferred  to  be  tried  by  a  military  rather  than  a  civil  tribunal." 
Courts  martial  continued  to  sit  till  1802.  —  Hay,  Irish  Rebellion,  p.  243 
etseq.     Dublin,  DuflFj',  1848. 

*  One  effect  of  the  failure  of  the  insurrection  was  to  break  up  alto- 
gether the  political  union  of  tho  Catholics  and  Presbyterians.  The 
French  principles  upon  which  this  union  had  been  formed  did  not  out- 
live, at  the  ;  i)rt  u  or  south,  the  seven  years  of  martial  law  which  followed 
1798.  The  Belfast  Propagandists,  vvlio  organized  with  Tone,  were  either 
exiled,  or  dead,  or  rlisgusted  with  politics.  Whenever  they  met,  recrim- 
inations took  plpf*';  ween  the  Cathoi/c  and  Presbyterian  revolutionists, 
each  attributing;  ■..-,  vue  other  the  chiefs  blame  of  the  failure.  Twenty 
voara  later,  it  wor  i  Le  hard  to  tell  which  class  was  the  more  profuse 
ia  -jrofessions  of  unconditional  loyalty.   ;      ,  ^ 


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ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


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viceroy,  who  had  declared  for  their  total  abolition,  was 
immediately   recalled,   and   Lord   Camden    put  in   his 

Slace.  On  the  31st  of  January,  1799,  Mr.  Pitt  intro- 
uced  into  the  English  Parliament  the  resolutions  which 
he  "  proposed  as  the  basir  '}i  h.  Union  between  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland."  !•.  tliat  i.;>3ech,  alluding  to  the 
Irish  Catholics,  he  said,  "  No  man  can  say  that,  in  the 
present  state  of  things,  while  Ireland  lemains  a  separate 
kingdom,  full  concessions  can  be  made  to  the  Catholics 
without  endangering  the  state  and  shakin^r  the  constitu- 
tion to  the  centre."  This  was  clea.lj  lioiaing  Liit  a 
hope  of  a  change  of  laws  when  Ireland  ceased  to  be 
"  a  separate  kingdom."  On  the  peace  with  Napoleon, 
when  he  retired  ^Vom  office  for  a  time,  he  so  explained  it 
in  his  resignation  speech.  "  I  beg  to  have  it  understood 
to  be  a  measure  which,  if  I  had  remained  in  govern- 
ment, I  must  have  proposed." 

These  intentions  were  conveyed  more  definitely  to  the 
Irish  bishops  by  Lo:  '  Cornwallis,  the  viceroy,  in  1799, 
and  Lord  Castlereagh,  the  secretary  of  ptaie.  Both  min- 
isters conveyed  their  sentiments  in  writing  to  Archbishop 
Troy,  of  Dublin.  Mr.  Pitt  wrote,  «  They  [the  Catholics] 
may  with  confidence  rely  on  the  zealous  support  of  all 
those  who  retire,  find  of  many  who  remain  in  office, 
when  it  can  be  given  with  a  prospect  of  success."  Lord 
Cornwallis  wrote,  that  the  Catholics,  "  having  so  many 
characters  of  eminence  pledged  not  to  embark  in  the  ser- 
vice of  government,  except  on  the  terms  of  the  Catholic 
privileges  being  obtained,  the  Oatholi(.s  ought,  accord- 
ingly, to  "  prefer  a  quiet  and  peaceable  demeanor  to  any 
line  of  conduct  of  an  opposite  description."  It  is  cer- 
tain that  these  assurances  did  induce  the  ten  bishops 
who  were  trustees  of  Maynooth,  in  a  meeting  of  thcdr 
board,  to  express  their  confidence  in  the  ministers  then 
negotiating  the  legislative  union  :  v  ilso  had  the  effect 
of  bringing  the  Catholic  hierarchy,  liste;.  I  of  the  laity, 
as  formerly,  into  negotiation  with  the  rulers  of  the  state. 

On  th  17th,  18th,  and  19th  of  January,  1779,  the 
bishops  who  were  Maynooth  trustees  sat  at  Dublin, 
"to  deliberate  on  a  proposal  from  government  for  an 


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PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND.      285 


independent  provision  for  the  lu  man  Catholic  clergy  * 
of  Ireland,  under  certain  regulations  not  incompatible 
with  their  doctrine,  discipline,  or  just  influence.  '  A 
minute  of  this  meeting,  signed  by  the  four  archbishops 
and  the  Bishops  of  Meath,  Cork,  Kildare,  Elphin,  Ferns,  "^ 
and  Ardagh,  was  approved  and  submitted  to  the  minis- 
ters. The  "  certain  regulations "  were,  in  a  word,  to 
control  the  appointment  of  bishops ;  to  give  government 
"  a  veto  "  on  bishops  elect.  The  ten  prelates  just  men- 
tioned ageed  to  lay  before  government  the  names  of  the 
nominees,  they  undertaking  to  "  transmit  the  name  of 
said  candidate,  if  no  objection  be  made  against  him, 
i"  r  appointment  to  the  holy  see,"  within  a  month  of 
receiving  it.  Further,  the  prelates  agreed,  "  If  govern- 
ment have  any  proper  objection  against  such  candi- 
dates, the  president  of  the  election  will  be  informed 
thereof  within  one  month  after  the  presentation,  who, 
in  that  case,  will  convene  the  electors  to  the  election 
of  another  candidate."  By  this  undertaking.  Primate 
O'Reilly  and  the  hierarchy,  in  1799,  granted  to  the  state 
what  Primate  O'Reilly  and  the  hierarchy,  in  1666,  suf- 
fer* d  exile  and  death  rather  than  concede.  Fortunately  for 
the  rish  church,  the  state  neglected  to  conclude  the  com-  i 
pact  nt  that  time,  and  in  the  synod  of  1808,  all  the  prel- 
ates, having  reviewed  the  question,  unanimously  rejected 
both  the  state  provision  and  the  concession  of  "  the  veto  " 
to  the  crown.  In  the  synod  of  1810,  they  renewed  their 
recent  declaration  with  additional  emphasis ;  and  when- 
ever, since  then,  the  matter  has  been  considered  of  impor- 
tance, they  have  repeated  their  resolutions  against  the 
interference  of  the  state.  - 

The  minutes  of  the  synod  of  1799  have  freqaerit'y 
been  reproduced  in  the  British  Parliament  and  by  the 
press.  The  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Milnet,  at  the  time  he  was 
acting  as  their  agent  in  London,  declared  that  "  the 
prelates  were  beset  and  plied "  into  that  concession.  ' 
Mr.  Clinch,  a  Catholic  barrister,  who  acted  as  secretary 
to  Dr.  Troy  in  his  civil  affairs,  and  who  was  high  in  the  ' 
confidence  of  all  the  hierarchy,  in  defending  the  counter 
resolutions  of  1808,  says  that  the  former  propositions 


p- 


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286 


T'? 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE   **'    * 


were  agreed  to  "when  the  reign*  of  terror  was  still 
breathing,  by  practising  upon  fear  and  solitude,  and 
by  little  less  than  a  menace."  *  It  is  certain  that,  at  the 
time,  the  body  of  the  Catholics  were  much  opposed  to 
any  understanding  or  compact  with  the  British  govern- 
ment. On  the  13th  of  January,  1800,  at  an  anti-union 
meeting,  John  Keogh  and  other  Catholics  openly  ex- 
pressed this  dissatisfaction;  in  a  maiden  speech,  Daniel 
O'Connell,  then  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  declared  the 
Catholics  would  "  rather  see  the  whole  penal  code 
reenacted  than  to  consent  to"  the  union.  For  nearly 
twenty  years  after  the  union,  this  question  of  "  the  veto  " 
was  the  chief  ground  of  debate  between  the  government 
and  the  Catholics. 

In  the  year  1800,  "  the  act  of  union"  was  passed  at 
Dublin,  and  repassed  at  London.  It  decreed  "  that  the 
said  kingdoms  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  shall,  upon 
the  first  day  of  January,  which  shall  be  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  one,  and  for- 
ever, be  united  into  one  kingdom,  by  the  name  of 
*  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.' "  f 


•    Clinch's  Inquiry.    Dublin,  1810.  *    '    »  '*      '      *       ^ 

t  The  fifth  article  of  the  act  of  union  disposes  of  the  Protestant  estab- 
lishment as  follows  :  — 

"  Abtiolb  Fifth.  That  it  be  the  fifth  article  of  union,  that  the  churches 
of  England  and  Ireland,  as  now  by  law  established,  be  united  into  one 
Protestant  Episcopal  church,  to  be  called  "  the  united  church  of  England 
and  Ireland ; "  and  that  the  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  govern- 
ment of  the  said  united  church  shall  be  and  shall  remain  in  full  force 
forever,  as  the  same  are  now  by  law  established  for  the  church  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  that  the  continuance  and  preservation  of  the  said  united 
church,  as  the  established  church  of  England  and  Ireland,  shall  be 
deemed  and  taken  to  be  an  essential  and  fundamental  part  of  the  union  ; 
and  that  in  like  manner  the  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government 
of  the  church  of  Scotland  shall  remain  and  be  preserved  ns  the  same  are 
now  established  by  law,  and  by  the  acta  for  the  union  of  the  two  kingdoms 
of  England  and  Scotland." 

The  eighth  article  provides  for  the  election  of  the  Protestant  "  lords 
spiritual,"  in  the  following  order :  — 

"  Be  it  enacted  by  the  king's  most  excellent  majesty,  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  commons  in 
this  present  Parliament  assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same, 
that  the  said  four  lords  spiritual  shall  be  taken  from  among  the  lords 
Bf  iritual  of  Ireland  in  j^e  manner  following  :  that  is  to  say,  that  one  of 


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■V 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION   IN    IRELAND. 


287 


Strange  piece  of  parchment !  Here,  by  an  act,  legal  in 
it8  forms,  but  atrocious  in  its  antecedents,  was  an 
ancient  Christian  nation  merged  into  a  vast,  irreligious, 
money-making  empire,  which  embraced  nearly  one  hun- 
dred million  Mohammedans  in  Asia,  a  large  barbaric 
population  in  Africa,  and  above  twenty  millions  of  her- 
etics in  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies.  For  what  wise 
m  end,  unseen  of  man,  was  this  outrage  on  Ireland  permit- 
ted by  divine  Providence  ?  Fifty  years  do  not  always 
exhibit  the  ways  of  God,  but  we  may  be  assured  the 
incorporation  of  Ireland  into  the  empire,  at  the  beginning 
of  such  a  century  as  the  present,  did  not  happen  without 
its  purpose  in  the  divine  economy  which  governs  the 
earth.     Some  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  change  are  already 

the  four  archbishops  of  Ireland,  and  three  of  the  eighteen  bishops  of  Ire- 
land, shall  sit  in  the  House  of  Lords  of  the  united  Parliament  in  each  ses- 
sion thereof,  the  said  right  of  sitting  being  regulated  as  between  the  said 
archbishops  respectively  by  a  rotation  among  the  archiepiscopal  sees 
from  session  to  session,  and  in  like  manner  that  of  the  bishops  by  a  like 
>v*  rotation  among  the  episcopal  sees ;  that  th0  Primate  of  all  Ireland  for  the 
time  being  shall  sit  in  the  first  session  of  the  Parliament  of  the  United 
Kingdom  ;  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  for  the  time  being,  in  the  second  ; 
the  Archbishop  of  Cashel  for  the  time  being,  in  the  third ;  the  Archbishop 
of  Tuam  for  the  time  being,  in  the  fourth ;  and  so  by  rotation  of  sessions 
forever ;  such  rotation  to  proceed  regularly  and  -without  interruption 
from  session  to  session,  notwithstanding  any  dissolution  or  expiration  of 
Parliament ;  that  three  sulfragan  bishops  shall  in  like  manner  sit  accord- 
ing to  rotation  of  their  ««^es,  from  session  to  session,  in  the  following 
order :  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Meath,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Kildarc,  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Dcrry,  in  the  first  session  of  the  Parliament  of  the  United  King- 
dom ;  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Kaphoe,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Limerick,  Ardfert, 
and  Aghadoe,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Dromore,  in  the  second  session  of  the 
Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom ;  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Elphin,  the  Lord 
•  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Waterford  and  Lismore, 
in  the  third  session  of  the  Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom  ;  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Leighlin  and  Ferns,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Clojue,  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  Cork  and  Ross,  in  the  fourth  session  of  the  Parliament  of  the  United 
Kingdom ;  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Killaloe  and  Kilfenora,  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Kilmore,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Clogher,  in  the  fifth  session  of  the  Parliament 
of  the  United  Kingdom ;  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Ossory,  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Killala  and  Achonry,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Clonfert  and  Kilmacduagh,  in 
the  sixth  session  of  the  Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom  ;  the  said  rota- 
tion to  be  nevertheless  subject  to  such  variation  therefrom,  from  time  to 
time,  as  is  hereinafter  provided." 

The  lords  spiritual  of  "the  united  churches"  have  thus,  since  1801» 
been  jointly  responsible  for  the  imperial  laws  under  which  India,  Ireland, 
and  the  oppressed  British  people  have  groaned,  and  starved,  and  with- 
ered away.    Let  not  that  £aot  be  forgotten ! 


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288 


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ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


to  be  seen  in  Great  Britain  and  her  foreign  possessions, 
as  well  as  in  those  countries  which  British  policy  injflu- 
ences. 

Bringing  Catholic  Ireland  bodily  into  the  empire  in 
1800,  threw  her  once  more  on  the  conservative  side  of 
the  European  struggle  which  dates  from  the  French  rev- 
olution. Grattan  not  less  zealously  than  Burke,  and 
O'Connell  as  zealously  as  either,  has  kept  Ireland,  until 
our  own  day,  upon  that  side.  Strange  as  it  may  sound, 
the  Irish  blood  that  spouts  from  the  breaches  of  Spanish 
towns  in  the  peninsular  war  was  shed  in  the  selfsame 
cause  of  the  unity  and  order  of  Christendom  as  the  Irish 
blood  which  flowed  at  Almanza,  Fontenoy,  and  Veletri. 
A  mysterious  design  penetrates  and  gives  coherence  to 
all  the  wars  of  the  devoted  islanders.  f 

Bringing  Catholic  Ireland  bodily  into  the  empire  in 
1800,  made  Catholic  "questions"  imperial  questions. 
London  was  slowly  leavened  out  of  the  lump  thus 
placed  in  her  midst.  For  a  cencury  the  English  Cath- 
olics had  been  timid  and  compromising;  without  a 
hierarchy  for  two  generations,  the  few  remaining  nobles 
usually  looked  on  the  vicars  apostolic  as  their  family 
chaplains.  Drs.  Poynter,  Challoner,  and  Hay  were  sure- 
ly able  and  virtuous  men,  but  they  had  an  extreme  opin- 
ion of  the  power  of  the  state,  and  an  humble  estimate 
of  their  own.  The  union  prepared  the  way  for  a  united 
Catholic  organization,  m  which  the  Irish  should  supply 
what  the  English  wanted  for  success  against  the  sects. 
The  gradual  but  decided  restoration  of  religion  in  Eng- 
land since  the  beginning  of  the  century  is,  in  part,  dedu- 
cible  from  this  cause. 

Fifty  years  ago,  the  state  domineered  the  church  in 
every  European  country  —  in  France,  Spain,  Portugal, 
Austria,  and  Italy.  The  triumph  of  the  Catholics  over 
the  imperial  Parliament,  over  the  sovereign,  and  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  was  felt  from  end  to  end  of  Europe. 
Gallicanism  felt  it,  Porobaldism  felt  it,  Josephism  felt  it. 
A  triumph  at  London  over  the  empire  was  a  very  differ- 
ent matter  from  a  triumph  at  Dublin  over  "the  castle 
party."     The  one  could  only  have  national,  the  other 


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PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


289 


had  universal  results.  In  reality,  though  not  at  first  in 
appearance,  Catholicity  became  aggressive  in  the  British 
dominions  from  the  time  of  the  act  of  union.  The  ages 
of  defence  had  closed  successfully,  so  far  as  doctrine 
and  discipline  were  involved. 

The  English  speaking  regions  of  America  and  Aus- 
tralia were  not  less  influenced  by  the  infusion  of  the 
Catholic  spirit  of  Ireland  into  imperial  politics  than  the 
British  dominions  proper.  At  Sydney,  as  at  New  York, 
wherever  English  commerce  has  an  entry,  it  has  carried 
insensibly  with  it  the  seed  of  the  church.  In  1800,  Irish 
emigrants  crossed  the  Ohio;  in  180S,  of  the  first  five 
bishops  of  the  United  States  three  were  of  Irish  origin. 
In  1820,  the  Irish  in  Australia  raised  the  first  cross  that 
crowned  a  Christian  temple  in  that  land,  and  within  our 
own  memory  an  Australian  hierarchy  has  been  supplied 
partly  from  the  same  nation.  Upon  the  slave  coast,  in 
California,  in  India,  in  Newfoundland,  Irish  laymen, 
priests,  and  prelates,  through  an  indirect  British  agency, 
have  been  settled  and  organized.  Thus,  as  the  conduits 
and  highways  of  pagan  Rome  bore  Christianity  outward 
over  the  earth,  so  the  material  machinery  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, subjected  without  its  own  knowledge,  has  been 
made  to  serve  Catholic  purposes,  and  to  conduce  to  the 
triumphs  of  the"  faith,  so  long .  and  bitterly  persecuted 
in  Ireland. 

Let  the  Irish  race  take  comfort !  If  they  have  failed 
in  their  politics,  they  have  triumphed  in  the  better  and 
higher  arena  —  they  have  conquered  theii  conquerors  in 
the  spiritual  warfare ! 


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CHAPTER    V. 


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CATHOLIC  QUESTION  IN  THE  IMPERIAL  PARLIAMENT.  —  PITT. -- 
FOX GRENVILLE.  — CATHOLIC  COMMIITEB  OF  1805.  — ITS  DISSO- 
LUTION. —  CATHOLIC   BOARD    FORMED.  — VETO   CONTROVERSY.— 

DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  BOARD LETHARGY  OF  THE  CATHOLICS. 

—  STATE  OF  IRELAND  A.  D.  1830. 

The  first  years  after  the  union  were  as  dismal  and 
discouraging  as  any  the  much-enduring  island  had  under- 
gone. Until  1802,  the  insurrection  act  continued  in  full 
force;  in  1803,  Emmett's  emeute  gave  a  momentary  shock 
to  the  national  stupefaction.  On  this  pretence  the  Ha- 
beas corpus  was  suspended,  and  martial  law  proclaimed. 
This  state  of  things  continued  till  the  opening  of  1805 — 
the  year  of  the  revival  of  public  spirit. 

On  the  assembling  of  Parliament  in  that  year,  the  re- 
maining members  of  the  old  Catholic  committee  came 
together  at  Dublin,  and  prepared  a  petition,  which  they 
sent  forward  by  Lord  Fingal.  On  reaching  London, 
that  nobleman  committed  the  presentation  of  the  petition 
to  Lord  Grenville  in  one  house,  and  Mr.  Fox  in  the 
other.  On  the  13th  of  May,  Mr.  Fox  moved  for  a  com- 
mittee to  take  the  petition  into  consideration.  Dr.  Dui- 
genan,  member  for  Trinity  College,  opposed  it,  and  Mr. 
Grattan,  who  was  induced  to  enter  the  imperial  legisla- 
ture, made  his  first  speech  there  in  its  defence.  The 
motion  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  336  against  124. 

In  sustaining  the  motion.  Sir  John  Cox  Hippesley,  a 
leading  whig,  had  suggested  "the  veto"  as  a  safeguard 
against  "  the  encroachments  of  Rome,"  which  the  Irish 
bishops  would  not  be  disposed  to  refuse.  Archbishop 
Troy,  and  Dr.  Moylan,  Bishop  of  Cork,  gave  considerable 
praise  to  this  speech,  and  partly  at  their  request  it  was 
published.  This  brought  up  directly  a  discussion  among 
the  Catholics,  which  lasted  until  1810,  was  renewed  in 
1813,  and  was  not  finally  set  at  rest  till  the  concession  of 
the  relief  bill  of  1829,  without  any  such  "  safeguard."  Sir 
John  C.  Hippesley  had  modelled  his  proposal,  he  said;  on 


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PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN   IRELAND. 


291 


the  example  of  "  the  old  Galilean  church,  ever  jealous  of 
the  encroachments  of  Rome."  "  Her  privileges,"  he  add- 
ed, "  depended  on  two  prominent  maxims :  1st.  That  the 
pope  had  no  authority  to  order  or  interfere  in  any  thing 
,  m  in  which  the  civil  rights  of  the  kingdom  were  concerned. 
2dly.  That  notwithstanding  the  pope's  supremacy  was 
acknowledged  in  cases  purely  spiritual,  yet,  in  other 
respects,  his  power  was  limited  by  the  decrees  of  the  an- 
cient councils  of  the  realm."  The  Irish  church,  there- 
'  fore,  was  to  be  similarly  administered,  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  the  whig  Mends  of  emancipation. 

In  1806,  on  the  death  of  Pitt,  Mr.  Fox  came  into  pow- 
er, with  an  uncertain  majority  and  a  powerful  opposition. 
His  cabinet  were  all  orators  — "  all  the  talents,"  they 
were  called.  In  April,  the  Duke  of  Bedford  arrived,  as 
viceroy,  at  Dublin,  and  the  Catholics  presented,  through 
Mr.  Keogh,  a  mild  address,  expressive  of  their  hopes  that 
"the  glorious  development"  of  their  emancipation  would 
be  reserved  for  the  new  government.  The  duke  returned 
an  evesive  answer  in  public,  but  privately,  both  at  Dublin 
and  London,  the  Catholics  were  assured  that,  as  soon  as 
the  new  premier  could  convert  the  king,  —  as  soon  as  he 
was  in  a  position  to  act,  —  he  would  make  their  cause  his 
own.  No  doubt.  Fox,  who  had  great  nobleness  of  soul, 
,  intended  so  to  do ;  but  on  the  13th  of  September  of  the 
same  year,  he  followed  his  great  rival,  Pitt,  to  the  vaults 
of  Westminster  Abbey.  There  was  but  a  few  months 
between  their  deaths. 

Lords   Grey  and  Grenville,  during   the   next  recess, 

formed  a  new  administration,  and  instructed  their  Irish 

.  secretary  (Mr.  Elliot)  to  put  himself  in  communication 

with  the  Catholics,  in  relation  to  a  measure  making  them 

eligible  to  all  naval  and  military  offices.     The  Catholics 

accepted  this  proposal  with  pleasure,  but  at  the  opening 

of  the  session  of  1807  sent  a  deputation  to  the  Irish  au- 

.   thorities  "  to  urge  the  question  of  emancipation."    The  bill 

I,  in  relation  to  the  army  and  navy  had,  originally,  the  king's 

acquiescence  ;  but  early  in  March,  after  it  had  been  once 

read  in  the  commons  and  committed,  George  III.  changed 

his  mind  —  if  the  expression  may  be  used  of  him  —  at 

7# 


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that  time.  He  declared  he  had  not  considered  it  at  first 
BO  important  as  he  afterwards  found  it;  be  now  refused 
to  permit  it  to  be  made  a  government  proposition ;  he 
went  further  —  he  required  a  written  pledge  from  Lords 
Grey  and  Grenville  never  again  to  bring  forward  such  a 
measure, "  nor  ever  more  to  propose  any  thing  connected 
with  the  Catholic  question."  This  pledge  they  refused 
to  give,  and  resigned.  Mr.  Perceval  waa  then  sent  for 
by  the  king,  and  formed  what  was  called  "the  No 
Popery  cabinet,"  in  which  George  Canning  and  Lord 
Castle^eagh  weie  two  of  the  principal  secretaries  of  state. 
Thus  the  Catholic  interest,  in  1807,  was  powerful  enough 
to  make  and  unmake  ministries  —  an  achievement  it  has 
more  than  once  re'peated  since  then.  Pitt,  Fox,  Grey, 
and  Grenville  had  been  governed  by  it  as  effectually 
as  they  had  governed  their  several  departments  while 
in  office.* 

*  "  Lords  Grey  and  "Grenville,"  says  a  contemporary,  "  would  have 
been  placed  at  the  head  of  -affairs  in  1812,  had  they  not  insisted  on  re- 
forming the  royal  household.  They  -were  aware  that  the  prince  regent 
was  under  the  influence  of  a  mistress,  and  a  convenient  husband,  who  had 
more  power  over  his  mind  than  his  ministers ;  and  they  refused  to  enter 
the  or '"'let  so  long  as  the  Hertford  family  held  possession  of  the  closet. 
'Earl  Moira,  to  whom  the  negotiation  had  been  intrusted,  indulged  in 
those  feelings  of  courtly  ohivahry  which  moialists  stigmatize  by  the  name 
of  criminal  connivance ;  he  refused  to  place  any  restraint  upon  the  amo- 
rous predilections  of  the  prince,  and  Ireland  was  sacrificed  to  a  worthless  ' 
woman,  whose  only  claim  to  respect  was  her  title. 

"O'Connell  assuredly  must  be  pardoned  for  having  denounced  such 
proceedings  with  all  the  powers  of  his  fervid  eloquence ;  but  the  Cath- 
olics cannot  be  acquitted  of  imprudence  lor  having  adopted  the  '  witch- 
ery '  resolutions,  which  proclaimed  the  scandal  to  Europe.  These  reso- 
lutions derive  their  name  from  the  fourth,  which  we  must  quote : 
•  That,  from  authentic  documents  now  before  us,  we  learn,  with  deep  dis- 
appointment and  anguish,  how  cruelly  the  promised  boon  ol  Catholic 
freedom  has  been  intercepted  by  the  fatal  witchery  of  an  unworthy  secret 
influence,  hostile  to  our  fairest  hopes,  spurmng  alike  the  sanctions  of 
public  and  private  virtue,  the  demands  of  personal  gratitude,  and  the  sa- 
cred obligations  of  plighted  honor.' 

••  On  this  pregnant  text  O'Connell  delivered  a  long  and  eloquent  dis- 
course, in  which  he  lashed,  with  unsparing  severity,  the  regent,  Lady 
Hertford,  and  p11  the  members  of  the  new  ministry.  This  offence  was 
never  forgiven ;  sixteen  years  afterwards,  George  IV.  made  it  a  condition 
of  his  consent  to  Catholic  emancipation,  that  O'Connell  should  not  be 
allowed  to  take  his  seat  as  member  for  Clare."  —  Reminisceni.es  of  O'CoH' 
neU,  by  a  Munster  Farmer.    London  :  Fisher  &  Co.,  1847. 


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PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


293 


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•  The  Catholic  committee,  revived  in  1805,  had  been  a 
good  deal  dispirited  by  the  overwhelming  majority  by 
which  their  petition  of  that  year  was  refused  to  be  re- 
ferred. In  1806,  they  contented  themselves  with  address- 
ing the  Duke  of  Bedford,  and  waiting  on  providence  and 
Mr.  Ponsonby.  In  1807,  the  "  No  Popery  cabinet,"  by  the 
result  of  the  elections,  was  found  to  be  highly  popular  in 
England  —  a  fact  which  excluded  all  prospect  of  having 
a  government  on  their  side.  But  they  were  too  long 
accustomed  to  reverses  to  despair  even  unde,  that  obsta- 
cle. Early  in  the  next  session  their  petition  was  pre- 
sented, as  usual,  by  Mr.  Grattan  in  the  Commons,  and 
Lord  Donough more  in  the  Lords.  The  majority  against 
p-'^^g  into  committee  upon  it  was,  in  the  Commons,  153 ; 
I  <  e  Lords,  87.  Similar  motions  in  the  session  of  1810, 
made  by  the  same  parties,  were  rejected  by  majorities 
-  mewhat  reduced. 

In  the  debate  of  1808,  Mr.  Ponsonby  had  stated,  as 
Sir  John  Cox  Hippesley  did  three  years  before,  that  the 
Irish  bishops  were  willing  to  concede  "a  veto"  to  the 
crown  in  future  appointments  to  their  order.  In  reply 
to  Mr.  Yorke,  /afterw'ards  Lord  Hardwicke,)  —  ,. 

"  Mr.  Ponsonby  explained :  '  The  right  honorable  gen- 
"  tleman  is  perfectly  right  in  saying  that  the  subject  to 
"  which  he  has  alluded  is  not  stated  in  the  petition ; 
"  but  my  authority  is  derived  from  several  of  the  most 
"  respectable  Catholics  in  Ireland.  I  have  had  conver- 
"  sation  with  Dr.  Milner,  one  of  the  Catholic  bishops  in 
"  this  country,  appointed  to  act  here  for  the  Catholic 
"  bishops.  He  informed  me,  that  such  is  the  determina- 
"  tion  ;  he  believes  tha*^t,  if  the  prayer  of  their  petition  be 
"  granted,  they  will  not  have  any  objection  to  make  the 
"  king,  virtually,  the  head  of  their  church ;  for  so  I  think 
"  he  must  become ;  and  that  no  man  shall  become  a 
"  Catholic  bif  hop  in  Ireland,  who  has  not  received  the 
"  approbation  of  his  majesty ;  and  that,  although  even 
appointed  by  the  pope,  if  disapproved  of  by  his  majesty, 
he  shall  not  be  allowed  to  act  or  take  upon  himself  his 
spiritual  functions ;  and  thus  in  succession,  if  his  majes- 
ty choose  to  object  to  any  bishop,  to  the  third,  fourth, 


■* 


294 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE      » 


# 


w«* 


"  or  fifth  nominatiun,  and  to  every  one,  as  he  shall 
"  please,  until  one  shall  be  appointed  that  meets  his 
"  majesty's  approbation,  and  that  bishop,  and  that 
"  bishop  only,  to  receive  full  power.* 

"  Mr.  Yorke  asked  *  if  the  right  honorable  gentlepian 
"  received  authority  to  make  this  communication  only 
"  from  Dr.  Milner,  or  from  the  body  of  the  Catholics.' 

"  Mr.  Ponsonby  replied,  '  that  he  bad  stated  that  Dr. 
"  Milner  did  represent  the  Catholic  prelates  of  Ireland ; 
*"  and  that  he  had  given  to  the  house  the  assurance 
"  whicVi  Dr.  Milner  had  given  him.' " 

It  is  certain  that  Dr.  Milner,  as  well  as  the  majorfty  of 
the  Irish  prelates,  was,  at  first,  favorable  to  such  a  con- 
ceHsioii  to  the  crown.  It  was  the  mercy  of  Providence 
a^  w  that  averted  the  calamity  of  state  control.  The 
hoi ,  father  was  in  exile,  and  the  sacred  college  unable 
and  Tin  ling  to  deal  decisively  with  so  grave  a  ques- 
tion in  his  absence.  Monseigneur  Quarantotti  had, 
indeed,  from  Pius  VII.,  very  full  powers  to  act  for  him 
during  his  exile  ;  but  questions  concerning  the  episcopal 
order  were  especially  withheld  from  him.  Hence  the 
decided  tone  taken  by  the  Irish  prelates  in  their  resolu- 
tions of  the  15th  of  September,  1808,  against  the  veto, 
and  the  similar  tone  of  the  resolutions  of  February, 
1810,  and  of  August,  1815,  in  opposition  to  Monseigneur 
Quarantotti's  rescript  of  the  previous  year.  In  consider- 
ing the  history  of  the  Irish  church  in  those  days,  we 
should  always  remember  that  the  sovereign  pontiff  was 
an  exile  and  prisoner,  unable  to  direct  or  decide  their 
national  councils.  Much  that  seems  conflicting  in  their 
resolutions  can  only  be  accounted  for  in  this  way. 

Mr.  Ponsonby's  speech  excited  the  apprehension  of 
those  Catholics  who  had  overlooked  Sir  John  C.  Hippes- 
ley's.  Throughout  1808  and  1809,  the  Catholic  press 
teemed  with  latters,  arguments,  and  citations  against 
the  veto.  Letters  over  the  signatures  "  Detector "  and 
"  Laicus,"  were  particularly  remarkable.  They  were 
generally  attributed  to  Messrs.  Scully  and  Clinch,  barris- 
ters, who,  like  O'Connell,  under  the  operation  of  the  act 
of  1793,  were  permitted  to  lead  a  public  life,  and  to  give 
a  legal  and  prudential  direction  to  the  efforts  of  their 


.-?* 


Li^iHiMA 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


2d5 


.a 


brethren.  The  discussion  could  not  be  kept  out  of  the 
committee,  particularly  when  the  change  of  opinion  was 
expressed  by  the  prelates,  in  September,  1808.  Resolu- 
tions of  thanks  to  their  lordships  were  proposed  and  car- 
ried, against  a  protest  favorable  to  the  veto,  which  was 
signed  only  by  Lord  Fingal  and  four  others.  After  the 
bishops'  meeting  of  February,  1810,  the  Most  Rev.  Dr. 
Murray  attended  the  meeting  of  the  general  committee, 
on  the  2d  of  March,  and  read  to  them  "  a  written  com- 
munication from  the  prelates  of  Ireland,"  reaffirming  the 
resolutions  of  1808.  A  fervent  vote  of  thanks  was  passed 
to  the  prelates  and  Dr.  Murray,  and  another  to  Daniel 
O'Connell,  Esq.,  "for  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  Secretary."  Lord  Ffrench  (the  same  who  had  been 
delegated  to  the  king  in  1793)  was  chairman  at  this 
meeting. 

In  May,  1809,  the  committee  had  been  rearranged,  and 
its  constitution  enlarged.  By  a  series  of  resolutions  then 
passed,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Catholic  peers,  the  sur- 
vivors of  the  delegates  of  1793,  the  committee  which 
managed  the  petitions  of  1805  and  1807,  and  such  per- 
sons "  as  shall  distinctly  appear  to  them  to  possess  the 
confidence  of  the  Catholic  body,"  do  form  the  general 
committee.  It  was  proposed  by  O'Connell,  to  avoid 
"  the  convention  act,"  "  that  the  noblemen  and  gen* 
tlemen  aforesaid  are  not  representatives  of  the  Cath- 
olic body,  or  any  portion  thereof."  The  committee 
were  authorized  to  collect  funds  for  defraying  expenses ; 
a  treasurer  was  chosen,  and  a  permanent  secretary,  Mr. 
Edward  Hay,  of  Wexford.  The  new  committee  act,ed 
with  great  judgment  in  1810,  but  in  1811  Lord  Fingal 
and  his  friends  projected  a  general  assembly  of  the  lead- 
ing Catholics,  contrary  to  the  convention  act,  and  to  the 
resolution  just  cited.  O'Connell  opposed  this  propo- 
sition ;  the  assembly  met,  and  were  dispersed  by  the 
authorities.  The  chairman,  Lord  Fingal,  and  Drs. 
Sheridan  and  Kirwan,  secretaries,  were  arrested.  The 
former  was  not  tried,  the  latter  were  tried  and  acquitted. 
The  wisdom  of  O'  Connell  was  thenceforward  considered 
equal  to  his  eloquence,  and,  on  good  old  John  Keogh'a 


*., 


m 


296 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


% 


..-C- 


death,  he  became,  emphatically,  the  leader  of  the  whole  • 
movement.     To  get  rid  of  the  odor  of  illegality,  the  com- 
mittee  dissolved,   and    reassembled    as   "the   Catholic 
board"  —  the  name  which  it  continued  to  keep  until  dis- 
membered by  the  veto  struggle,  some  seven  years  later.     * 

The  desire  for  the  veto  had  taken  strong  hold  upon 
English  statesmen.*  The  favor  with  which  the  first 
mention  of  it  in  Parliament  was  received  betokened  a 
foregone  conclusion.  "  The  effect  produced  in  favor  of 
"  the  Catholic  cause,"  according  to  Mr.  Charles  Butler, 
"  by  what  was  said  in  both  houses  of  Parliament,  of  the 
"  willingness  of  the  Catholic  prelates  of  Ireland  to  accede 
"  to  the  veto,  was  very  great ;  even  their  most  determined  ' 
"  adversaries  seemed  to  consider  that  it  had  gained  them 
"  their  cause.  This  was  the  general  language  within  the 
"  walls  of  Parliament ;  the  first  expression  which  any 
"  Catholic  heard  from  his  Protestant  acquaintance  was 
"  a  congratulation  on  the  turn  of  the  debate,  and  the 
"  event  which  occasioned  it."  f  The  same  writer  — 
a  constant  partisan  of  the  veto  —  remarks,  "As  soon 
"  as  their  actual  rejection  of  it  was  known,  it  was  evident 
"  that  the  mention  of  it  in  Parliament  had,  in  conse- 
"  quence  of  this  rejection,  become  the  most  unfortunate 
"  circumstance  which  had  befallen  the  Catholics  since 
"  they  had  been  suitors  to  the  legislature  for  relief.  It 
"  may  be  said,  with  the  greatest  truth,  that  it  was  a  mat- 


tl 


*  In  Burke's  letter  to  Lord  Kcnmare,  (written  in  1782,)  he  says, 
*•  Before  I  had  written  thus  far,  I  heard  of  a  scheme  of  givinfj  to  the  castle 
the  patronage  of  the  presiding  members  of  the  Catholic  clerf^y."  The 
remainder  of  the  letter  is  occupied  with  an  able  exposition  of  the  evils 
which  would  spring  from  such  an  error.  "  Whoever,"  writes  the  sage, 
"  is  complained  against  by  his  brothe:*,  will  be  considered  persecuted ; 
whoever  is  censured  by  his  superior  will  be  looked  upon  as  oppressed  ; 
whoever  is  careless  in  his  opinions,  and  loose  in  his  morals,  will  be  called 
a  liberal  man,  and  will  be  supposed  to  have  incurred  hatred  because  he 
was  not  a  bigot."  How  true  all  this  is,  observers  of  the  recent  dealings 
of  the  state  with  the  church,  in  Ireland,  can  testify.  The  passage  in 
Burke  fixes  the  first  conception  of  the  veto,  as  a  measure  of  policy,  at 
the  year  1782.  Twenty-five  years  earlier,  the  Stuarts  had  ceased  to  be 
consulted  on  episcopal  a])pointments  at  Rome.  The  fact  that  they  had 
been  so  consulted  was  still  remembered,  and  probably  suggested  the  de- 
sign to  the  advisers  of  George  III. 

t  Butler's  Memoirs  of  the  Catholics,  vol.  iv.  p.  162.  • .,  . 


PROTESTANT    REPORMATiON    IN    IRELAND. 


297 


**ter  of  triumph  to  all  the  enemies,  and  a  matter  of 
"  concern  to  all  the  friends  of  Catholic  emancipation."  * 
Short-sighted  triumph  of  the  enemy !  The  act  of  the 
Irish  prelates,  in  18C  .  was  a  priceless  victory  won  by 
religion  in  that  empire.  Judged  by  the  after  experience 
of  half  a  centL  y,  it  is  to  be  placed  far  above  the  victo- 
ries of  1793  and  1829,  in  real  importance, 
f  Defeated  at  Dublin,  the  vetoists  etiU  strove  to  ingraft 
their  own  conditions  on  the  Catholic  claims.  In  all  their 
parliamentary  speeches,  they  conciiiuv »  to  speak  of  it  as 
an  indispensable  security  due  to  the  crown ;  they  even 
aftected  to  think,  that,  if  once  embodied  into  law,  the 
Catholics  of  Iceland  would  gr<iductlly  submit  to  it.  That 
Grattan  a .  d  Canning,  in  the  sessio.'  of  1812,  confident-^ 
ly  repeatt  this  assertion,  notwithstanding  the  several 
declarations  of  the  Irish  prelates  to  the  contrary,  shows 
how  hard  it  is,  how  impossible,  indeed,  for  the  best  dis- 
posed Protestant  to  comprehend  the  Catholic  sense  of 
right  and  wrong.  Private  judgment  is  the  natural  parent 
and  governor  of  expediency ;  an  invincible  faith  guides 
the  lives  of  men  by  paths  and  over  obstacles  from  which 
the  hardiest  Protestantism  would  shrink  back  terrified 
and  discomfited.  Few  cases  in  history  are  more  illus- 
traiive  of  this  truth  than  the  events  p'^o^  the  veto  which 
transpired  in  the  years  1813,  1814,  ar     i815. 

"  On  the  22d  of  June,  1812,  Mr  C  inning  moved  a 
"  resolution,  that  '  the  house  woula,  early  in  the  next 
"  session  of  Parliament,  take  into  its  most  serious  con- 
"  sideration  the  state  of  the  laws  affecting  his  majesty's 
"  Roman  Catholic  subjects  in  Great  Britain  and  Lre- 
"  land,  with  a  view  to  such  a  final  and  conciliatoiy 
"  adjustment  as  might  be  condu^'V  v.  to  the  peace  and 
"  strength  of  the  United  Kingdom,  to  the  stability  of  the 
"  Protestant  establishment,  and  to  the  general  satisfac- 
"tion  and  concord  of  all  classes  of  h\s  majesty's  sub- 
"  jects.' 

"  He  introduced  his  motion  by  an  excellent  speech,  in 
**  which,  with  the  force  and  eloquence  habitual  to  him^ 


*^' 


*  Butler's  Memoirs  of  the  Ca«Vj:>'k  t,  yol.  iv.  p.  164. 


298 


;     ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


"  he  established  three  positions :  1.  That  all  citizens  of 
"  the  H&m^,  state,  living  un-^  ant  same  government,  are 
"  entitled,  primA  facie,  ^o  enual  political  rights  and  priv- 
"  ilegea ;  2.  That  it  is,  at  all  times,  desirable  to  create 
"  and  maintain  the  most  perfect  identity  of  interest 
"  and  feeling  among  all  the  members  of  the  same  com- 
"  munity ;  3.  That,  where  there  exists,  in  any  commu- 
"  nity,  a  great  permanent  cause  of  political  discontent, 
"  which  agitates  the  minds  of  men,  without  having  any 
"  tendency  to  subside  of  itself,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the 
^'  supreme  power  in  the  state  to  determine  in  what  mode 
^*  it  may,  most  advantageously,  be  set  at  rest.  An  inter- 
"  esting  debate  ensued  ;  Lord  Castlereagh  made  a  liberal 
"  declaration  in  favor  of  the  proposed  inquiry  respecting 
"  the  Catholics.  On  a  division,  Mr.  Canning's  motion 
"  was  earned  by  the  decisive  majority  of  235  votes  to 
"106.         .>      ■  ' 

"  In  the  House  of  Lords,  the  Marquis  Wellesley,  on 
"  the  1st  of  the  following  July,  made  a  motion  similar  to 
"  that  of  Mr.  Canning.  The  previous  question  was 
"  moved  upon  it  by  the  lord  chancellor,  and  there  being 
"  126  votes  for  it  and  12  5  against  it,  the  chancellor's 
"  motion  was  carrie<]  by  a  majority  of  one. 

"  Under  these  auspieions  circumstances,  the  memorable 
"  campaign  of  1813,  for  Catholic  emancipation,  began. 
"  It  was  opened  on  the  25th  of  February,  by  Mr.  Grat- 
"  tan's  motion,  *  that  the  house  will  resolve  itself  into  a 
"  committee  of  the  whole  house,  to  take  into  its  most 
"  serious  consideration  the  state  of  the  laws  affecting 
"the  Roman  Catholic  subjects  in  Great  Britain  and 
"  Ireland,  with  a  view  to  such  a  final  and  conciliatory 
"  adjustment  as  may  be  conducive  to  the  peace  and 
"  strength  of  the  United  Kingdom,  to  the  stability  of  the 
"  Protestant  establishment,  and  to  the  general  satisfac- 
"  tion  and  concord  of  all  classes  of  his  majesty's  sub- 
"jects.'  After  a  debate  of  four  days,  a  division  took 
"  place  upon  Mr.  Grattan's  motion ;  it  was  carried  by  a 
"majority  of  forty  —  there  being  264  votes  for  it,  and 
«  224  against  it. 

"  This  point  being  gained,  though  by  a  hard  contest- 


?. 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION   IS   IRELAND. 


299 


"  Mr.  Grattaii,  on  March  9th,  moved  the  order  of  the  day 
"  for  a  committee  of  the  whole  house  on  the  Catholic 
"  question*  When  this  was  formed,  he  rose,  and,  after 
"  some  preliminary  observations,  said  that  he  Intended 
"  to  propose  resolutions :  1st,  That  the  Catholic  disa- 
"  bilitiess  .should  be  removed ;  and,  2dly,  That  the  estab- 
"  lishments  in  church  and  state  ought  to  be  offectually 


r«  -gulations   for 
tters,  and  an 


•nta,  after  a 

ted,  ordered 

a  the  11th  of 


"  secured ;  and  afterwards,  to  pro 
"  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  and  o^ 
"  oath  against  foreign  inHuence."  * 

G rattan's  bill,  with   Canning's      m 
severe  handling  in  committee,  wa 
to  be  printed,  and  read  a  second  tii.i 
May.    The  following  anai  'sis  of  it  is  worthy  of  study  :^ 

"  The  bill  recited,  that  '  the  Protestant  succession  to 
*'  the  crown  was,  by  the  act  for  the  further  limitation  of 
"  the  crown,  and  the  better  securing  the  liberties  of  the 
*'  people,  established  permanently  and  inviolably. 

" '  That  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  of  England 
"  and  Ireland,  and  the  doctrine,  discipline,  and  govern- 
"  ment  thereof,  and  likewise  the  Protestant  church  of 
*'  Scotland,  and  the  doctrine,  discipline,  and  government 
"  thereof,  were  established  permanently  and  inviolably. 

"  '  That  it  would  promote  the  interest  of  the  same,  and 
"  strengthen  our  free  constitution,  of  which  they  are  the 
"  essential  part,  if  the  civil  and  military  disqualifications, 
"  under  which  his  majesty's  Roman  Catholic  subjects 
"  now  labor,  were  removed. 

" '  And  that,  after  due  consideration  of  the  petitions  of 
"  the  said  Roman  Catholics,  it  appeared  highly  advisa- 
"  ble  to  communicate  to  them  the  blessings  of  our  free 
"  form  of  government ;  and,  with  that  view,  to  put  an 
"  end  to  all  religious  jealousies  between  his  majesty's 
"  subjects,  and  to  bury  in  oblivion  all  animosities  be- 
"  tween  England  and  Ireland,  so  that  the  advantage  of 
"  the  respective  countries  might  be  bound  togethrr  in  all 
"  time  to  come,  by  the  same  privileges,  and  the  same 
"  interest,   in   defence   of  their   common    liberties   and 


*  Butler's  Memoiris  of  the  Catholics,  tOl.  iv.  pp.  236-238. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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^  government)  against    all  the  enemies  of  the  British 
"empire.* 

"  The  act  then  authorized  Roman  Catholics  to  sit  and 
"  vote  in  either  house  of  Parliament,  upon  taking  the 
*f  oath  prescribed  by  the  act,  instead  of  the  oaths  of  alle- 
"giance,  abjuration,  and  supremacy,  and  instead  of 
**  making  and  subscribing  the  declaration  against  tran- 
*^  substantiation,  and  the  declaration  against  the  invoca- 
"lion  of  saints,  now  required  of  them.  The  oath  was 
"  chiefly  fqgrmed  from  the  oaths  in  the  acts,  passed  for  the 
"relief  of  the  CathoUcs  in  1791  and  1793. 

"  The  bill  then  provided  that  it  should  be  lawful  for 
**  Catholics  to  hold  all  civil  and  military  offices,  and  all 
"pl*ees  of  trust  and  profit,  except  the  office  of  lord  high 
"  cliancellor,  lord  keeper,  or  lord  commissioners  of  the 
"  great  seal  of  Great  Britain,  or  lord  lieutenant,  or  lor4  \ 
"  deputy,  or  other  chief  governor  of  Ireland,  upon  making 
"  and  subscribing  the  foregoing  declaration  and  oath, 
"Instead  of  the  oath  and  declaration  against  transub- 
"  stantiation,  and  the  declaration  against  the  invocation 
"  of  saints,  or  taking  the  sacrament  of  our  Lord's  supper, 

"  It  also  enabled  Catholics  to  be  members  of  any  lay 
"  body  corporate ;  and  to  hold  any  civil  office  or  place 
"  of  trust  and  profit  in  it,  upon  taking  and  subscribing*^ 
"  the  declaration  and  oath  required  by  the  act,  instead 
4'  of  the  oaths  and  declarations  now  required,  or  taking 
"  the  sacrament.  , 

"  But  the  act  excluded  them  from  all  offices  and 
"  places  in  the  churches  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Eng- 
"  land  and  Ireland,  or  Scotland,  or  in  the  courts  of  eccle- 
"  siastical  judicature  within  the  realm,  or  belonging  to 
"  any  cathedral,  collegiate,  or  ecclesiastical  foundation, 
"  or  to  any  of  the  universities,  or  to  Eton,  Westminster, 
"  or  Winchester,  or  to  any  college  or  school  of  ecclesias- 
"  tical  or  royal  foundation ;  and  from  presenting  to 
**  ecclesiastical  benefices. 

"  It  also  provided  that  it  should  not  be  lawful  for 
"  Catholics  to  advise  the  crown,  in  the  appointment  or 
•*  disposal  of  any  ecclesiastical  office  or  preferment. 

**  Persons  exercising  any  of  the  spiritual  duties  or 


* 


r 
i     * 


■\\ 


IF 


PR0TB9tA!ft   RBPORMAf ION   IN   tftl^LAND. 


301 


**  functions  exercised  by  Catholics  in  holy  orders  were 
"  required  to  take  an  oath,  by  which  they  swore  not  to 
"consent  to  the  appointment  or  consecration  of  any 
"  Roman  Catholic  bishop,  or  vicar  apostolic,  whom  they 
"  should  not  deem  to  be  of  unimpeachable  loyalty,  and 
"  peaceable  conduct,  and  not  to  hold  any  correspondence 
"  with  the  pope  or  see  of  Rome,  or  its  courts  or  tribunals, 
**  tending  directly  or  indirectly  to  overthrow  or  disturb 
"  the  Protestant  government,  or  the  Protestant  church, 
"  or  on  any  matter  not  merely  spiritual.  # 

"  No  persons  born  out  of  the  United  Kingdom,  of  its 
"  dominions,  except  persons  born  of  British  or  Irish 
"  parents,  and  no  persons  who  had  not  resided  within 
"the  same  during  the  term  therein  mentioned,  were  to 
**  exercise  episcopal  functions,  under  the  penalty  therein 
"  mentionea ;  and  were  rendered  liable  to  be  sent  out  of 
"  the  kingdom. 

"  Such  was  the  bill  for  the  relief  of  hi3  majesty's  Cath- 
"  olic  subjects,  which  was  brought  into  Parliament  by 
«  Mr.  Grattan."  * 

Canning's  amendments  were  equally  important. 

"  The  first  appointed  a  certain  number  of  commis* 
**  sioners,  who  were  to  profess  the  Catholic  religion,  and 
"  to  be  lay  peers  of  Great  Britain  or  Scotland,  possessing 
"  a  freehold  estate  of  one  thousand  pounds  a  year ;  to  be 
"  filled  up,  from  time  to  time,  by  his  majesty,  his  heirs, 
"or  successors.  The  commissioners  were  to  take  an 
"  oath  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  their  office,  and  the 
"  observance  of  secrecy  in  all  matters  not  thereby  re- 
"  quired  to  be  disclosed,  with  power  to  appoint  a  secre- 
"  tary  with  a  salary,  (proposed  to  be  five  hundred  pounds 
"  a  year,)  payable  out  of  the  consolidated  fund.  The 
"  secretary  was  to  take  an  oath  similar  to  that  of  the 
"  commissioners. 

« It  was  then  provided,  that  every  person  elected  to 
"  the  discharge  of  Roman  Catholic  episcopal  functions 
"  in  Great  Britain  or  Scotland  should,  previously  to  the 
"  discharge  of  his  office,  notify  his  then  election  to  the 


•N 

¥' 


*  Butler's  Memoirs  of  the  Catholics,  vol.  ir.  pp.  241-2M. 
26 


302 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH    THE    ^^| 


w 


"  secretary ;  that  the  secretary  should  notify  it  to  the 
"  commissioners',  and  they  to  the  privy  council,  with  a 
"certificate  *that  they  did  not  know  or  believe  any 
"  thing  of  the  person  nominated,  which  tended  to  im- 
"  peach  his  loyalty  or  peaceable  conduct ; '  unless  they 
"  had  knowledge  of  the  contrary,  in  which  case  they 
"  should  refuse  their  certificate.  Persons  obtaining  such 
"  a  certificate  were  rendered  capable  of  exercising  epis- 
"  copal  functions  within  the  United  Kingdom ;  if  they 
"  exercised  them  without  a  certificate,  they  were  to  be 
"  considered  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  liable  to  be 
"  sent  out  of  the  kingdom. 

"  Similar  provisions  respecting  Ireland  were  then  in- 
"  troduced. 

tf?"  The  second  set  of  clauses  was  suggested  by  Lord 
"  Castlereagh,  and  provided  that  the  commissioners  uil- 
"  der  the  preceding  clauses  —  with  the  addition,  as  to 
"  Great  Britain,  of  the  lord  chancellor,  or  lord  keeper,  or 
"  first  commissioner  of  the  great  seal  for  the  time  being, 
"  and  of  one  of  his  majesty's  principal  secretaries  of 
"  state,  being  a  Protestant,  or  such  other  Protestant 
"  member  of  his  majesty's  privy  council  as  his  majesty 
"  should  appoint  —  and  with  a  similar  addition  in  re- 
**  spect  to  Ireland  —  and  with  the  further  addition,  as  to 
"  Great  Britain,  of  the  person  then  exerci°'  '^  episcopal 
"  functions  among  the  Catholics  in  Lon-  —  and,  in 
"  respect  to  Ireland,  of  the  titular  Roman  Qatholic  Arch- 
"  bishops  of  Armagh  and  Dublin,  —  should  be  commis- 
"  sioners  for  the  purposes  thereinafter  mentioned. 

"  The  commissioners  thus  appointed  were  to  take  an 
"  oath  for  the  discharge  of  their  office,  and  observance 
"  of  secrecy,  similar  to  the  former,  and  employ  the  same 
"  secretary,  and  three  of  them  were  to  form  a  quorum. 

"  The  bill  then  provided,  that  subjects  of  his  majesty, 
"  receiving  any  bull,  dispensation,  or  other  instrument, 
"  from  the  see  of  Rome,  or  any  person  in  foreign  parts, 
"  acting  under  the  authority  of  that  see,  should,  within 
**  six  weeks,  send  a  copy  of  it,  signed  with  his  name,  to 
"  the  secretary  of  the  commissioners,  who  should  trans- 
**  mit  the  same  to  them. 


pr 


(( 


u 


« 


V 


-Tr^^;- 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAN]>».||„   303 

"  But  with  a  proviso,  that  if  the  person  receiving  the 

*  same  should  deliver  to  the  secretary  of  the  commission, 

*  within  the  time  before  prescribed,  a  writing,  under  his 
^  hand,  certifying  the  fact  of  his  having  received  such  a 

*  bull,  dispensation,  or  other  instrument,  and  accompa- 

*  nying  his  certificate  with  an  oath,  declaring  that  *  it 
'  related,  wholly  and  exclusively,  to  spiritual  concerns, 

*  and  that  it  did  not  contain,  or  refer  to,  any  matter  or 

*  thing  which  did  or  could,  directly  or  indirectly,  affect 
'  or  interfere  with  the  duty  and  allegiance  which  he 

*  owed  to  his  majesty's  sacred  person  and  government, 

*  or  with  the  temporal,  civil,  or  social  rights,  properties, 

*  or  duties  of  any  other  of  his  majesty's  subjects,'  then 

*  the  commissioners  were,  in  their  discretion,  to  receive 
'  such  certificate  and  oath,  in  lieu  of  the  copy  of  the 

*  bull,  dispensation,  or  other  instrument. 

"  Persons  conforming  to  these  provisions  were  to  be 
'  exempted  from  all  pains  and  penalties,  to  which  they 

*  would  be  liable  under  the  existing  statutes ;  otherwise, 

*  they  were  to  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor ; 

*  and  in  lieu  of  the  pains  and  penalties,  under  the 
'  former  statutes,  be  liable  to  be  sent  out  of  the  king- 
*dom.  ? 

"  The  third  set  of  clauses  provided  that,  within  a  time 
'  to  be  specified,  the  commissioners  were  to  meet  and 

*  appoint  their  secretary,  and  give  notice  of  it  to  his 
'  majesty's  principal  secretaries  of  state  in  Great  Britain 

and  Ireland ;  and  the  provisions  of  the  act  were  to  be 
'  in  force  from  that  time."  * 

On  the  second  reading,  in  May,  the  committee  of  Par- 
liament, on  motion  of  the  speaker,  then  on  the  floor, 
struck  out  the  clause  enabling  Catholics  "  to  sit  and  vote 
in  either  house  of  Parliament,"  by  a  majority  of  four 
votes:  251  against  247.  Mr.  Ponsonby  immediately 
rose,  and,  observing  that,  as  "  the  bill,  without  the 
clause,"  was  unworthy  both  of  the  Catholics  and  its 
authors,  he  moved  the  chairman  do  leave  the  chair. 
The  committee  rose,  without  a  division,  and  the  bill  of 
1813  was  happily  abandoned, 

•  Butler's  Memoirs  Of  the  Caiholidi,  toI.  It.  pp.  246-249. 


1  I' 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH   THE 


W 


'  t: 


The  defeat  of  this  measure  was  very  differently  re- 
ceived in  London  and  Dublin.  The  English  Catholics 
were  unfortunately  divided  into  two  parties  —  the  Cisal- 

Eine  club,  representing  the  Galileans,  and  the  Rt.  Rev. 
k,  Milner,  famous  as  a  controversial  writer,  the  other. 

'The  former,  composed  chiefly  of  the  gentry,  was  favored 
by  the  three  remaining  vicars  apostolic,  Drs.  Pbynter, 
Collingridffe,  and  Douglas.  Mr.  Charies  Bulier,  a  near 
relative  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Alban  Butier,  was  their 
counsellor  and  pensman.  They  were  as  mischievous  a 
set  of  well-meaning  men  as  ever  came  together,  wise  in 
their  own  conceit  Learning,  fortune,  and  talent  were  to 
be  found  amongst  them ;  but  compromise,  timidity,  and 
egotism  were  also  there.  Immediately  after  the  rejection 
of  the  biU  of  1813,  the  Cisalpines,  in  the  English  boar^, 
voted  their  thanks  to  its  authors,  and  in  another  resolu- 
tion resolved  to  persevere  in  their  efforts.  Dr.  Milner, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  circulated  a  memorial  against 
the  proposed  measure  during  its  discussion,  and  after  its 
defeat  had  charged  its  authorship  upon  *<  certain  false 
Catholic  brethren.'^  When  asked,  at  the  board,  to  whom 
he  alluded  in  that  publication,  he  answered,  to  Mr.  But- 
ler: upon  this  the  board  voted,  that  "the  charge  just 
made  by  the  Rt  Rev,  Dr.  Milner  against  Mr.  Butler  was 
a  gross  calumny  ;"  that  Mr.  Butler  "was  entitled  to  the 
thanks  and  gratitude  of  the  general  board  of  British 
Catholics;"  and,  proceeding  still  further,  that,  "under 
present  circumstances,  it  was  highly  expedient  that  the 
Kt  Rev.  Dr.  Milner  should  cease  to  be  a  member  of  the 
board."  This  indignity  to  one  of  the  most  venerable 
and  gifted  bishops  in  Britain  was  a  foretaste  of  what 
Canning's  board  of  laymen  might  have  provided  for 
the  hierarchy  to  be  submitted  to  them,  had  not  four  votes 
defeated  the  bill  of  1813.  Bo  wonderful  are  the  ways 
of  Qodl 

In  Ireland,  the  conduct  of  the  Catholics,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  score  or  two  of  the  aristocracy,  was  very 

,  different  Dr.  Milner,  at  this  time  their  agent,  was  voted 
the  most  marked  thanks  of  the  Irish  prelates  for  "  his 
Ifii^  iqpofltolic  firmness ''  in  ^^  the  faithful  discharge  of  his 


*r 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


305 


duty."  On  the  other  hand,  .vir.  Grattan,  as  a  chief  pro- 
moter of  the  bill,  was  bitterly  denounced.  An  election 
occurring  in  that  year,  he  was  returned,  without  oppojii- 
tion,  for  the  city  of  Dublin ;  but  on  being  chaired  through 
the  streets,  the  poorer  Catholics  rose  in  a  mob,  assailed 
his  bearers,  and  pelted  him  with  stones,  one  of  which 
drew  blood  from  his  face.  He  was  obliged  to  take  sud- 
den refuge  from  the  storm,  while  (O,  strange  reverse!) 
Mr.  Charles  Phillips,  from  the  balcony  of  his  prison, 
pleaded  for  protection  for  Henry  Grattan !  Since  Jupi- 
ter Capitolinus  was  preserved  by  the  Roman  geese,  there 
was  seldom  seen  such  a  contrast  between  guardian  and 
ward !  To  the  honor  of  Grattan,  -^  who  is  always  to 
be  judged  as  a  Protestant,  —  he  never  uttered  a  word  of 
complaint,  and  in  his  future  efforts  in  the  same  cause, 
he  wisely  avoided  the  former  rock  of  offence.  His  con- 
duct in  this  respect  contrasted  favorably  with  Hippes- 
ley's,  who,  finding  the  veto  could  not  be  carried,  became 
a  zealous  enemy  of  the  Catholic  claims. 

Untaught  by  the  example  of  Grattan,  Richard  Lalor 
Shiel  entered  the  Catholic  board,  and  on  the  10th  of 
December,  1813,  —  being  then  but  twenty-three  years 
old,  —  made  his  first  speech,  in  defence  of  the  veto.  He 
was  opposed  by  O'Connell  and  Dr.  Dromgoole;  and 
some  years  later,  he  publicly  retracted  the  unconsidered 
sentiments  of  his  youth.  Notwithstanding  his  first  false 
step,  the  Catholic  body  cherished  for  his  courage,  genius, 
and  person  an  affection  exceeded  only  by  that  they  ren- 
dered to  O'Connell. 

The  English  vetoists,  encouraged  by  their  "  liberal " . 
allies,  resolved,  if  possible,  to  make  interest  for  their 
project  at  Rome.  The  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Poynter  had  sub- 
mitted to  Monseigneur  Quarantotti  their  views  and 
wishes,  while  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  had  forwarded 
the  opposite  opinions  of  the  Irish  prelates.  A  rescript  to 
Dr.  Poynter,  dated  February  16, 1814,  was  issued,  which, 
from  its  historical  importance,  we  transcribe  in  part. 
Monseigneur  Quarantotti  wrote  as  follows :  — 

"  Most  illustrious  and  right  reverend  Lord,  — 

"  With  great  pleasure  we  have  learned  that  a  bill  for 


>-»afr 


WQ 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


'■| 


"  the  emancipation  of  the  Catholics  of  your  flourishing 
*'  kingdom  from  penal  laws,  which  was  proposed  in  the 
"  last  year,  and  lost  by  a  small  minority,  may  probably 
*^  be  again  presented  in  this  session  of  Parliament  It  is 
'<  our  ardent  wish  that  this  act,'  so  much  desired,  may  at 
^*  length  be  passed ;  and  that  the  Catholics,  who  have 
<^  ever  given  such  distinguished  proofs  of  their  obedience 
*^  and  fidelity,  may  at  length  be  delivered  from  the  heavy 
*'  yoke  by  which  they  have  so  long  been  oppressed ;  and 
"  that,  without  any  detriment  to  their  honors  or  estates. 
*<  they  may  give  full  scope  to  those  exertions  which  botl 
**  religion  and  the  good  of  their  country  require  of  them 
"  And  this  may  be  surely  expected  from  your  most  be 
'*  neficent  sovereign,  and  from  that  illustrious  nation, 
'*  which  on  former  occasions,  and  especially  in  these  lat< 
*'  ter  times,  has  acquired  so  much  glory  in  the  estimation 
*'  of  the  whole  world  for  its  equity,  prudence,  and  oth^r 
*^  virtues.  And  since  it  has  been  represented,  that  among 
<<  the  bishops  certain  questions  and  differences  have 
*^  arisen,  relative  to  the  conditions  on  which  the  Catholics 
<<  are  to  be  placed  on  an  equality  with  their  fellow-sub- 
"  jects,  we,  who,  in  the  absence  of  the  supreme  pastor, 
<*  are  placed  over  the  concerns  of  the  sacred  missions, 
*^  and,  for  that  purpose,  are  invested  with  full  pontifical 
**  powers,  have  thought  it  incumbent  on  us  to  remove 
"  every  ambiguity  and  obstacle  which  might  impede  so 
*'  desirable  a  conciliation,  and  by  the  authority,  and  con- 
"  sent  of  the  holy  see,  to  supply  such  faculties  as  do  not 
"  come  within  the  ordinary  limits  of  episcopal  jurisdic- 
"  tion.  Having,  therefore,  taken  the  advice  of  the  most 
"  learned  prelates  and  divines,  having  examined  the  ^et- 
*'  tersL  which  have  been  transmitted  to  us  both  by  youi 
"  lordship  and  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  the  mat- 
"  ter  having  been  maturely  discussed  in  a  special  congre- 
"  gation,  it  is  decreed,  that  the  Catholics  may,  with  sat- 
"  isfaction  and  gratitude,  accept  and  embrace  the  bUl 
"  which  was  last  year  presented  for  their  emancipation, 
"  in  the  form  in  which  your  lordship  has  laid  it  before 
"  us.  One  point  only  requires  some  explanation ;  and 
**  that  is  the  second  part  of  the  oath,  by  which  the  clergy 


V  t.(t    ^    ■■  ?;■ 


u 
u 


\\ 


■^. 


"■MMI 


PROTEISTANT   REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND.  307 

**  is  SO  restrained  as  not  to  be  permitted  to  hold  any  cor- 
"  respondence  with  the  sovereign  pontiff  and  his  minis- 
"  ters,  which  may,  directly  or  indirectly,  subvert,  or  in 
"  any  way  disturb,  the  Protestant  government  or  church. 
"  It  is  evidently,  by  divine  authority,  the  special  duty  of 
"  the  ministers  of  the  church  every  where  to  propagate 
<^  the  Catholic  faith,  (the  only  faith  which  can  lead  to 
"  eternal  felicity,)  and  to  refute  erroneous  doctrines. 
"  This  is  taught  by  the  precepts  of  the  gospel,  and  by 
"  the  example  of  the  apostles  and  their  successors.  Now, 
"  should  a  Catholic  convert  any  Protestant  to  the  ortho- 
«  dox  religion,  he  might  be  deemed  guilty  of  perjury ; 
"  as,  by  such  conversion,  he  might  seem,  in  some  sort,  to 
"  disturb  the  Protestant  church.  Understood  in  this 
"  sense,  the  oath  cannot  lawfully  be  taken,  as  being  re- 
<^  pugnant  to  the  Catholic  faith.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
"  it  be  the  meaning  of  the  legislators,  that  the  minis- 
"  ters  of  the  Catholic  church  are  not  forbidden  to  preach, 
"  instruct,  and  give  counsel,  but  are  only  prohibited  from 
"  disturbing  the  Protestant  church  or  government  by  vio- 
"  lence  and  arms,  or  evil  artifices  of  whatever  kind,  this 
"  is  just,  and  entirely  consonant  to  our  principles. 

"  To  you,  therefore,  it  belongs,  with  all  humility  and 
"  earnestness,  to  supplicate  the  high  court  of  Parliament, 
"  that  in  order  to  quiet  and  secure  the  consciences  of  the 
"  Catholic  clergy,  it  will  affix  some  modification  or  decla  - 
"  ration  to  this  clause  in  the  oath ;  which,  removing  every 
"  ambiguity,  may  leave  them  the  liberty  ,  o;,cefully  to 
"  preach  and  to  persuade.  In  case  the  bill  be  already 
"  passed,  containing  the  same  words,  or  that  nothing  in 
"  it  is  allowed  to  be  altered,  let  the  clergy  acquiesce;  and 
"  it  will  be  sufficient  for  them  publicly  to  declare,  that 
"  this,  and  this  only,  is  the  sense  in  which  they  have 
"  sworn  to  it,  so  that  nothing  in  the  oath  may  be  adverse 
"  to  orthodox  doctrine ;  and,  that  this  protest  may  be 
"  generally  known,  and  be  for  an  example  to  posterity, 
"  this  construction  of  it  shall  be  publicly  recorded.  It 
"  were  to  be  wished,  likewise,  if  it  can  be  obtained,  that 
"  a  declaration  should  be  made  by  some  of  the  members 
"  of  Parliament,  that  government  requires  the  oath  from 


308 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH    TUB 


*  the  Catholic  clergy  in  this  sense,  and  no  other.     Other 

*  clauses,  which  you  mention  as  contained  in  the  same 

*  bill,  may  be  submitted  to  by  the  indulgence  of  the 
'  apostolic  see. 

*'  That  the  king  should  desire  to  he-  certified  of  the 

*  loyalty  of  such  as  are  promoted  to  a  bishopric  or  dean- 

<  ery,  and  should  be  assured  that  they  are  endowed  with 

<  such  qualities  as  become  a  good  subject ;  that,  to  in- 

<  vestigate  these  particulars,  he  should  likewise  appoint  a 
'  committee  to  inquire  into  their  moral  conduct,  and 
'  make  a  report  to  his  majesty,  as  your  lordship  has  given 
'  us  to  understand  is  the  case ;  that,  for  this  very  same 
'  reason,  the  king  should  require  that  foreigners,  and  those 
'  likewise  who  have  not  resided  five  years  in  the  kingdom, 
'  should  be  excluded  from  such  dignities :  all  this,  as 
'  it  regards  only  what  is  within  the  competence  of  civil 
'  authority,  may  be  deserving  of  every  toleration.  It  is 
'  highly  proper  that  our  prelates  should  be  agreeable  and 
'  acceptable  to  the  king ;  that  they  should  exercise  their 
'  ministry  with  his  full  consent ;  in  fine,  that  their  probity 
'  should  be  evident  even  to  those  who  are  not  in  the 

bosom  of  the  church.  For  a  bishop  (as  the  apostle 
teaches,  1st  Epistle  to  Timothy,  iii.  7)  should  have  a 
good  report  of  them  who  are  without  On  these  accounts, 
by  the  authority  vested  in  us,  we  allow  that  those  who 
are  designed  for  a  bishopric  or  deanery,  and  are  pro- 
posed by  the  clergy,  be  admitted  or  rejected  by  the 
king,  according  to  the  proposed  bill.  Therefore,  after  the 
clergy  have,  in  the  usual  manner,  chosen  those  whom 
they  shall  have  judged  in  the  Lord  to  be  worthy  to  be 
exalted  to  those  dignities,  in  Ireland  the  metropolitan 
of  the  province,  in  England  and  Scotland  the  senior 
apostolical  vicar,  shall  announce  them  to  the  committee 
for  the  royal  approbation  or  dissent.  If  the  candidates 
be  rejected,  others  shall  be  proposed,  who  may  be 
pleasing  to  his  majesty;  but,  if  approved,  the  metropol- 
itan or  apostolical  vicar,  as  above,  shall  send  the  act  of 
their  election  to  this  sacred  congregation,  which,  having 
weighed  with  care  th6  merits  of  each  individual,  shall 
.apply  to  the  sovereign  pontiff  for  canonical  institution. 


%■■ 


m 


.^  « "^ 


i^-  rROTBBTANT   BEFORMATION   IN   IRELAND. 


300 


1- 


**  We  observe,  likewise,  that  it  is  the  office  of  the  said 
**  committee  to  examine  any  letters  which  are  sent  to 
*<  any  of  the  clergy  of  Great  Britain  from  the  ecclesiasti" 
«  cal  powers,  and  diligently  to  inquire  whether  any  thing 
**  be  contained  therein  which  may  be  obnoxious  to  the 
*^  government,  or  in  any  way  disturb  the  public  tran- 
**  quillity.  Since  communication  with  the  head  of  the 
*^  church  in  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical  concerns  is  not 
*'  prohibited,  but  the  inspection  of  the  committee  regards 
**  only  matters  of  civil  policy,  this  likewise  ought  to  be 
<*'acquie8c«^d  in.  It  is  good  that  the  government  should 
"  not  entertain  any  suspicion  concerning  our  commu- 
"  nications."  * 

When  this  rescript  was  made  public  by  Dr.  Poynter, 
the  Irish  were  again  alarmed.  At  that  critical  moment, 
the  holy  father  was  restored  to  his  city,  and  the  Catho- 
lics throughout  the  world  were  pouring  in  addresses  of 
congratulation.  The  Irish  resolved  to  send  an  agent  to 
Rome,  and  chose  the  Rev.  Richard  Hayes,  a  Franciscan 
friar,  distinguished  for  his  eloquence.  He  arrived  in 
Rome  towards  the  close  of  the  year,  but  after  a  stay  of 
some  weeks,  was  ordered  to  leave  the  city,  on  account 
of  certain  slighting  expressions  he  was  reported  to  have 
used  of  Cardinals  Litta  and  Quarantotti.f  The  Irish 
prelates  immediately  despatched  the  coadjutor  of  Dub- 

*  In  his  examination  before  the  joint  committees  of  both  hotiseg  of 
Parliament,  in  March,  1825,  right  Rev.  Dr.  Doyle  gave  the  following  ac- 
count of  the  position  of  Monseigneur  Quarantotti  at  Rome.  It  was  asked, 
"  Are  the  committee  to  urderstand  from  you  that  this  rescript  of  Quar- 
antotti's  did  not  come  frou?  the  see  of  Rome  ? "  Dr.  Doyle  answered, 
*•  It  did  come  from  the  see  of  Rome,  but  the  pope  of  that  time  was  a  pris- 
oner in  France,  and  he  vested  his  spiritual  jurisdiction  in  several  indi- 
viduals in  Rome,  first  in  one,  and  then  provisionally  in  others ;  so  that  in 
case  the  first,  second,  and  third  happened  to  be  removed  by  the  French 
froih  Rome,  sdme  person  might  remain  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the 
church :  the  first  individual,  and  I  believe  the  second,  who  were  entitled 
to  do  so,  were  removed  by  the  French.  This  Quarantotti,  who  was  an 
obscure  individual  at  the  time,  happened  to  remain ;  he  had  those  powers, 
and  began  to  exercise  them,  and,  not  being  at  all  acquainted  with  our 
afiiairs,  gave  this  rescript  upon  an  application  being  made  to  him  by  some 
interested  person,  and  as  soon  as  we  received  it  we  protested  against  it." 

t  On  his  return  from  Rome,  Father  Hayes  was  present  at  a  Catholic 
meeting  in  Dublin,  where  the  following  event  occurred  :  On  the  reply 


:-*f 


310 


ATTBMPTS   TO   B8TABLI8H   TH»^'*l»tU  \ 


iin,  Dr.  Murray,  as  their  agent,  but  equally  without  suc- 
cess. The  vetoists  still  insisted  that  Rome  was  with 
them.  Early  in  1815,  his  holiness  having  again  to  with- 
draw temporarily  from  Rome,  to  which  he  returned  after 
the  battle  of  Waterloo,  the  Irish  prelates  delayed  their 
further  action  until  August.  In  that  month  they  again 
met,  and  reappointed  Dr.  Murray  and  the  Bishop  of  Cork 
to  Rome.  A  part  of  their  instructions  was,  to  deliver 
the  holy  fathei*  the  following  resolutions :  — • 

<*  At  a  meeting  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Dublin, 
**  they  came  to  the  following  resolution :  that  <  it  is 
**  our  decided  and  conscientious  conviction,  that  any 
"  power  granted  to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  of  inter- 
**  fering  directly  or  indirectly  in  the  appointment  of  bish- 
(<  ops  for  the  Roman  Catholic  church  in  Ireland,  must 
*<  essentiallv  injure,  and  may  eventually  subvert,  the  Ro- 
**  man  Catholic  religion  in  this  country. 

**  *  That,  with  this  conviction  deeply  and  unalterably 
**  fixed  in  our  minds,  we  should  consider  ourselves  as 
"  betraying  the  dearest  interests  of  that  portion  of  the 
*^  church  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  committed  to  our 
"  care,  did  we  not  declare  most  unequivocally,  that  we 
**  will,  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances,  deprecate 
*<  and  oppose,  in  every  canonical  and  constitutional  way, 
"  any  such  interference.  *> 

of  the  pontiff  to  the  remonstrance  of  the  Catholic  body  being  read  to  the 
meeting  Mr.  Hayes  rose,  and  spoke  thus  in  relation  to  the  censure  it 
contained,  of  his  own  course  in  the  Eternal  City:  — 

'*  By  faith  a  Catholic,  by  ordination  a  priest,  by  obedience  a  child  of 
the  holy  see,  I  bow  with  unhesitating  submission,  respect,  and  venera- 
tion to  the  centre  of  Catholicism  and  source  of  ecclesiastical  subordina- 
tion, the  vicegerent  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  solemnly  declare,  that  I  should 
choose  death  rather  than  allow  any  private  or  personal  feeling  or  con- 
sideration to  betray  me  into  the  slightest  contest  with  or  disrespect  to- 
wards the  authority  and  dignity  of  the  head  of  the  Catholic  church, 
Pope  Pius  YII.  My  tongue  shall  never  utter  a  syllabie  of  codi- 
plaint,  nor  my  pen  trace  a  line  of  vindication ;  for  lest  scandal  should 
arise,  in  the  words  of  the  prophet,  I  exclaim, '  First  take  md  up  and  cast 
me  into  the  sea.' " 

On  another  occasion,  some  {Hriests  in  America,  chafing  against  author- 
ity, invited  him  amongst  them,  to  become  their  patriarch  and  head.  But 
he  spumed  the  infamous  proposal,  laid  it  at  the  feet  of  his  spiritual 
superior,  and  eloquently  reprimanded  those  from  whom  it  came. — 
"ULeQeet  O'Connell and  hia  FriendM,  jf.il,   Boston:  1846. 


« 


u 
u 


u 


u 


u 


M 


ti 


ti 


H 


mmmmms 


PROTBITANT   RBPOIMATION    IN   IRELAND. 


311 


te 


jon- 
to- 


cast 


'  **  *  Though  we  sincerelv  venerate  the  supreme  pontiff 
^  as  visible  head  of  the  church,  we  do  not  conceive  that 
^  our  apprehensions  for  the  safety  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
**  olio  church  in  Ireland  can  or  ought  to  be  removed  by 
**  any  determination  of  his  holiness,  adopted,  or  intended 
^  to  be  adopted,  not  only  without  our  concurrence,  but 
^  in  direct  opposition  to  our  repeated  resolutions,  and 
**  the  very  energetic  memorial  preeented  on  our  behalf, 
**  and  so  ably  supported  by  our  deputy,  the  Most  Rever- 
**  end  Dr.  Murray ;  who,  in  that  quality,  was  more  com- 
^  petent  to  inform  his  holiness  of  the  real  state  and 
**  interests  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  in  Ireland  than 
**  any  other  with  whom  he  is  said  to  have  consulted.' 

**  These  resolutions  were  unanimously  agreed  to  by  the 
^  four  metropolitan  archbishops,  by  Dr.  Everard,  the  co- 
"  adjutor  of  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  by  Dr.  Murray,  the 
**  coadjutor  of  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  by  the  Bisl.  >ps 
"  of  Meatb,  Cloyne,  Clonfert,  Kerry,  Waterford,  Derry, 
**  Achonry,  Killala,  Killaloe,  Kilmore,  Ferns,  Limerick, 

Eiphin,  Cork,  Diowne  and  Connor,  Osbory,  Raphoe, 

Clogher,  Dromore,  Kildare  and  Leighlin  and  Ardagh, 

and  the  warden  of  Galway." 

in  Februaiy,  1816,  Pius  VII.  addressed  a  lengthy 
epistle  to  the  Irish  prelates.  The  cardinal  point  of  this 
epistle  is  in  the  following  passage :  — 

**  This  also,  venerable  brothers,  it  is  right  that  yon 
^  should  seriouslv  advert  to,  that  it  was  not  possible  for 
*^  us  to  refuse  this  small  interference  in  the  election  of 
**  bishops  to  the  British  government,  without  exciting, 
^  in  a  serious  degree,  the  displeasure  of  that  government 
*^  towards  the  whole  church.  It  were,  indeed,  to  be  wished, 
**  and  it  is  what  we  of  all  others  most  earnestly  desire, 
**  that,  in  the  election  of  bishops,  we  enjoyed  that  full  and 
**  complete  freedom,  which  so  peculiarly  makes  a  part  of 
**  our  supremacy,  and  that  no  lay  power  had  any  share 
**  whatever  in  a  matter  of  so  much  moment.  But  you 
"  yourselves  well  know  how  far  we  are  at  present  re- 
**  moved  from  this  happy  state  of  things.  For  the  sov- 
<*  ereigns  of  Europe,  or  many  of  them  at  least,  have 
**  demanded  and  obtained,  from  the  apostolical  see,  a 


332 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH   tHB 


**  greater  or  lesser  share  of  inflaence  in  the  noipiination  of 
<<  candidates.  And  hence  have  arisen  the  e0nvention$i 
^  the  induUsj  the  nominaHons,  the poHulationSyihp presen- 
*^  tations^  and  other  expedients  of  this  kind,  l^  #faich  the 
^  eztenii  of  the  privileges -fl^rttiited  in  this  way  to  ido  many 
*^  Catholic  sovereigns  is  nmited  and  denned.  Even  in 
<*  your  islands,  before  the  ever-to-be-laniented  separation 
"  froiQ  the  Roman  church  took  plac«,  the  bishops  were 
<*  chos^  by  the  pope,  upon  the  sujMcation  of  the  king, 
*^  as  ""^  recorded  in  the  acts  of  thPoonsistory,^^  held  oil 
<*  the  6th  of  July,  in  the  year  1554,  during^  tl^e  auspi- 
^  cious  pontiftcate  of  Pope  Julius  IIL*  %^des,  not 
<*  Catholic  sovereigns  alone,  but  others  alsd  who  are 
<' separated  from  our  communion,  claim  a  share  in  the 
^  appointment  of  ecclesiastical  persons  to  bishoprics, 
**  situated  in  those  parts  of  their  dominions  whieh  y^t 
*<  adhere  to  the  Catholic  faith  —  a  claim  whic^  this  see 
"  feels  it  necessary  to  submit  to. 

^  Such  being  the  state  of  this  momentous  question, 
<*  what  hope  could  there  be  entertained  that  the  British 
^  government  would  long  have  submitted  to  an  exclni^n 
"  frqm  a  share  in  appointing  the  bishops  of  your  island, 
**  even  such  as  it  has  been  explained,  while  a  couduct  so 
"  difi'erent  is  observed  not  only  to  Catholic  soveKeigns/to 
"  those  even  whose  dominions  are  of  the  smallest  extent, 
*<  but  also  to  princes  who  do  not  belong  to  our  oOrh- 
"  munion  ?  Was  it  not  to  be  feared,  that,  if  we  had  de- 
*<  clined  adopting  the  measure  already  mentioned,  the 
<<  'government  would  not  only  lay  aside  all  intention  of 
<<  granting  emancipation  to.  the  Catholics,  but  withdraw 
"  from  them  all  favor  and  protection  throughout  the 
"  whole  of  its  so  widely-extended  dominions  ?  " 

The  Irish  prelates,  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  perceived 
that  his  holiness  was  not  fully  informed  upon  all  the 
local  facts;  as,  for  instance,  where  he  speaks  of  the 
emancipation  act  admitting  the  bishops  to  the  House  of 
Lords,  as  a  reason  why  the  government  should  hold  af 
veto  over  their  appointment.     No  Catholic  in  the  empire 


*  Apud.  Raynaldttm  ad  an.  1664,  No.  5  and  6. 


PROTESTANT   REFORMATION   IN   IRELAND. 


313 


he 
of 

Of 


fiad  dreamed  of  such  a  contingency,  nor  could  those  who, 
at  Rome,  represented  it  as  possible,  be  well  defended 
from  the  imputation  of  practising  an  imposition  on  the 
holy  father.    , 

A  copious  extract  of  the  pope^s  letter  was  communis 
cated  by  the  bishops  to  the  Catholic  board  in  1817.  This 
body,  in  an  energetic  and  dutiful  remonstrance,  besought 
the  holy  father  to  decide  against  ail  government  inter- 
ference with  Catholic  discipline.  They  declared  they 
would  rather  bear  all,  and  more  than  all,  their  old  op- 
pression,  than  be  the  occasion  of  any  such  interference. 
Finally,  they  solicited  **  such  a  concordate  with  the  Cath- 
olic bishops  in  Ireland  as  will  render  the  election  of  their 
successors  perfectly  domestic  and  purely  Catholic,  and 
will  at  the  same  time  insure  the  inHtitution  to  the  person 
so  elected."  In  replr,  the  holy  father  referred  the. Cath- 
olics to  his  letter  to  the  bishops,  and  concluded  with  this 
admonition :  **  Concerning  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of 
your  country,  we  order  you  to  be  at  ease^  In  whatever 
sense  various  individuals  interpreted  these  emphatic 
words,  we  know  that  from  that  time  forth  the  propo- 
sal of  a  veto  was  but  seldom  and  faintly  renewed  at 
Rome,  London,  or  Dublin,  and  that  every  succeeding 
year  its  partisans  declined  and  disappeared.  The  fault 
of  1799  was  nobly  retrieved  by  the  firmness  of  1808  and 
the  twenty  succeeding  years. 

After  the  defeat  of  Grattan  and  Canning's  bill,  the 
majorities  against  the  Catholics  continued  to  be  large. 
In  1815,  Sir  Henry  Parnell's  motion  for  a  committee  was 
rejected  by  a  majority  of  228  to  147 ;  in  1816,  on  Mr. 
Grattan's  similar  motion,  the  vote  was  172  to  141 ;  in 
1817,  Mr.  Grattan  was  again  defeated  by  245  to  221. 
In  this  session  an  act  exempting  officers  in  the  army  and 
navy  from  forswearing  transubstantiation  was  passed ; 
in  1818,  on  General  Thornton's  motion,  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  moved  the  previous  question  —  so  that  there  was 
no  division.  In  1819,  in  a  new  Parliament^  Mr.  Grat- 
tan's motion  for  a  committee  was  negatived  by  two 
votes;  the  division  being  241  for,  243  against.  This 
was  the  last  Catholic  motion  the  iilustricus  orator  lived 

27 


314 


ATTEMPTS    TO   ESTABLISH    TUB 


to  make.  In  a  dying  state,  he  was  carried  to  London, 
in  1820,  declaring  it  to  be  his  purpose  to  die  in  the  ser- 
vice of  so  holy  a  causae.  Death  intercepted  his  geniiis 
in  that  devout  pilgrimage.  He  breathed  his  last  talking 
of  the  rights  of  the  Catholics,  leaving  nothing  to  that 
body  to  regret,  save  only  that  he  bad  not  departed  pos- 
sessed of  the  holy  viaticum,  which  conduces  to  an  eter- 
nal glory  in  realms  where  agitation  and  persecution  are 
alike  unknown.* 

TBe  years  1819  and  1820  saw  a  spirit  of  languid  sub- 
mission  pervading  all  Ireland.  The  gradual  secession  of 
the  aristocracy  unJermined  the  Catholic  board  after  an 
existence  of  eight  years,  remarkable  more  ftMr  the  mis- 
chiefs it  averted  than  for  any  decisive  victories.  The 
death  of  Grattan  was  followed  by  that  of  Greorge  III. 
The  coronation  of  the  regent  made  no  difierence  in  the 
policy  of  the  empire,  over  which,  since  1810,  he  had  pos- 
.messed  an  '^unrestricted  sovereignty."  An  attempt  to 
tbund  an  Irish  party  irrespective  of  religion  had  failed ; 
uU  was  sullen  and  gloomy  acquiescence  in  the  order  of 
he  day.  To  make  the  matter  worse  for  the  Catholics, 
the  Irish  vetoists  retained  the  enmity  of  opposition  long 
-after  the  conflict  had  passed.  O'Connell  and  Shiel  were 
entirely  estranged;  and  the  stout  middle  men,  who  ad- 
hered to  '*  the  counsellor,*'  (as  he  was  popularly  called,) 


9  Charles  Butler  relates  the  following  affecting  anecdote  of  Grattan's 

ioath :  **  At  the  end  of  May,  1&20»  Mr.  Grattan  came  for  the  last  time  to 

Li^ndon.    On  the  first  day  of  the  following  June,  the  writer  of  these  pages 

'tiled  upon  him ;  and,  being  informed  that  he  was  extremely  ill,  was  re- 

r'ring  without  having  seen  him;  but  Mr.  Grattan,  having  heard  that  he 

was  in  the  house,  sent  for  him.    It  Was  evident  that  he  touched  the  mo- 

:iicnt  of  his  dissolution;  but  the  ethereal  vigor  of  his  mind  was  unsub- 

hted,  and  his  zeal  for  the  Catholic  cause  unabated.    He  pressed  the 

\  itPr  \y  the  hand.     'It  is,"  he  said,  *all  over!  — yes — all  over!  — 

\>-\t  I  will  die  in  the  catise.    I  mean  to  be  carried  to  the  House  of  Com- 

.uans  to-morrow  —  to  beg  leave  of  the  speaker  to  take  the  oaths  sitting  — 

•  id  then  to  move  two  resolutions.'    lliese  he  mentioned  to  the  writer, 

')ut  spoke  so  indbtinctly,  that  the  writer  could  only  perceive,  generally, 

liat  they  were  substantially  the  same  as  the  clauses  which  he,  had  pre- 

1  \cd  to  the  bill,  which,  in  1812,  he  brought  into  Parliament  for  the  relief 

>t  the  Catholics.    He  again  pressed  the  writer  by  the  hand,  repeated  the 

.  itention  of  being  carried  to  the  house,  and  desired  the  writer  to  attend 

iiim  to  it*    But  he  died  in  the  ensuing  night !  *' 


\\ 


PROTESTANT   BEPORMATION   IN   IRELAND. 


310 


cordia*V  iespised  the  titled  trimmers  who  acted  with 
Lord  F.  igal.  When  the  latter  received  his  <*yard  of 
blue  ribbon/*  so  satirized  by  Byron,  it  did  not  mend  the 
matter  in  the  leasts  An  occasional  allusion  to  the  wrongs 
of  the  people  in  pleadings  at  the  bar,  an  occasional  voice 
from  the  press  vainly  exhorting  to  exertion,  was  all  that 
was  heard  in  this  gloomy  interval,  out  of  which  no  man 
perceived  any  way  of  deliverance.* 

The  separate  toriff  of  Ireland  was,  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  union,  drawing  to  its  end;  men  were  retir- 
ing from  trade,  and  rushing  upon  the  land;  the  ex- 
chequers of  the  two  countries  were  to  be  consolidated. 
The  social  revolution  occupied  every  mind  in  1820 ;  it 
wis  then  the  union  was  consummated. 

In  England,  the  Galilean  Catholics  were  still  in  the 
ascendant,  though  the  aged  M ilner^s  ultramontane  doc- 
trines found  a  small  and  growing^  body  of  adherents. 
The  irreligious  populace  had  been  lately  reached  by  the 
propaganda  of  the  old  radical  reformers -— Cartwright, 
Godwin,  Bentham,  Cobbett,  and  Burdett  In  1819,  the 
military  at  Manchester  fired  upon  one  of  their  assemblies, 
shooting  down  several  of  the  people.  Thencefovxyard 
we  can  clearly  trac6  the  aggressions  of  the  urban  upon 
the  territorial  aristocracy :  this  was  a  social  revolution 
for  England,  whose  consequences  are  still  ripening. 

So  opened  the  important  decade  during  which  George 
IV.  reigned  in  his  own  name  over  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland. 


*  In  speaking  of  the  lay  Catholics  of  this  age,  James  Bernard  Clinch, 
their  ablest  writer,  ought  never  to  be  forgotten.  A  collection  of  hit 
letters,  and  a  reprint  of  his  work  on  **  Church.  Government,"  would  be 
a  great  boon  to  our  Catholic  literature.  Such  men  as  Burke,  Dr.  Hus- 
sey,  and  Dr.  Milner  had  the  highest  opinion  of  those  writings. 


316 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE      \  . 


CHAPTER  VL 


VISIT  OF  GEOBGE  IV.  TO  IREUkND.— THE  CATHOLIC  QUESTION  III 
PARLIAMENT. -FOBHATION  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  ASSOCIATION.- 
ITS  PB0GBE8S  AND  POWER.— THE  CATHOLICS  BEFORE  PARLIA- 
MENT IN  PERSON. -FOREIGN  SYMPATHY;  AID  FROM  THE  IRISH 
IN  AMERICA.  — THE  "SECOND  REFORMATION.**  — GENERAL  CATH- 
OLIC CONTROVERSY. -ADVOCATES  OF  EMANCIPATION  AT  THE 
PRESS.  — ELECTION  OF  O'CONNELL  TO  PARLIAMENT.  —  RELIEF 
BILL  OF  1889. -RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  AND  ••THE  ESTAB- 
LISHMENT,** A.  D.  1830. -CONCLUSION. 

In  1821,  to  escape  from  the  unpopniarity  produced  by 
his  persecution  of  Queen  Caroline,  George  IV.  visited 
Ireland.  He 'arrived  in  Dublin,  and  was  received  with 
enthusiasm.  It  is  humiliating  to  an  Irishman  to  record 
the  dishonorable  fact;  but  the  truth  must  be  told. 
Though  one  of  the  most  criminal  kings  that  had  ever 
reigned,  (excepting  but  Henry  VIII.,  whom  he  much 
resembled,)  though  accompanied  by  Locd  Castlereagh, 
and  fresh  from  the  infamous  pernecution  of  his  own 
wife,  he  was  received  with  enthusiasm.  So  vain  and 
frivolous  does  long  provincialism  make  men  of  rank,  so 
helplessly  excitable  does  it  leave  a  city  populace.  George 
[V.  remained  a  month  in  Ireland,  and  then,  with  many 
fair  promises,  made  to  be  broken,  returned  home  by  way 
of  Scotland. 

Early  in  the  first  session  of  the  new  Parliament,  (May 
4,  1821,)  Mr.  Plunkett,  whose  ambition  it  was  to  fol- 
low in  Mr.  Grattan's  footsteps,  presented  several  Cath- 
olic petitions,  and  moved  for  a  committee  to  consider 
I  hem.  In  commencing  an  argument  worthy  of  the  suc- 
cession he  claimed,  he  made  the  following  preface: — ■ 

"  Sir,  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  petition,  signed  by  a  very 
'<  considerable  number  of  his  majesty's  Roman  Catholic 
*'  subjects  of  Ireland.  From  the  names  attached  to  it, 
'•  which  amount  to  many  thousands,  distinguished  for 
'*  rank,  fortune,  talents,  and  every  thing  which  can  confer 
*'  weight  and  influence,  —  from  the  means  which  these 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN   IREIaND. 


317 


**  persons  possess  of  collecting  the  opinions  of  the  people 
**  in  that  part  of  the  United  Kingdom,  —  the  petition  may 
*^  be  fairly  considered  as  speaking  the  sentiments  of  the 
**  great  body  of  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Ireland.  A 
*'  similar  petition  was  presented  from  the  same  body,  the' 
**  year  before  last.  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  remind 
'*  the  house  that,  on  that  occasion,  it  was  presented  by 
**  the  late  Mr.  Grattan.  It  was  sanctionea  by  the  au- 
^  thority  of  his  name,  and  enforced  by  all  the  resistless 
*^  powers  which  waited  on  the  majesty  of  his  genius.  I  ^ 
"  have  no  design  to  give  vent  to  the  feelings  with  which 
"  my  heart  is  filled,  or  to  mingle  with  the  public  mourn- 
*'  ing  the  mere  peculiar  and  selfish  regrets  which  have 
^  followed  tp  the  grave  the  friend  by  whose  confidence 
**  I  was  honore^,  by  whose  wisdom  I  was  instructed,  by 
'*  whose  example  I  was  guided.  His  eulogium  has  been 
**  heard  from  the  lips  of  kindred  eloquence  and  genius ; 
*^  t)ie  last  duties  have  been  rendered  to  his  tomb  by  the 
*^  gratitude  and  justice  of  the  British  people :  in  his 
'^  death,  as  in  his  life,  he  has  been  a  bond  of  connection 
*'  between  the  countries.  Sir,  I  will  not  weaken  the 
**  force  of  that  eulogium,  or  disturb  the  solemnity  of 
"  those  obsequies,  by  my  feeble  praise  or  unavailing  sor- 
"  row;  but  with  respect  to  the  sentiments  of  that  great 
*^  and  good  man  on  this  particular  question  I  wish  to  say 
"  a  word.  Sir,  he  had  meditated  upon  it  deeply  and 
*^  earnestly ;  it  had  taken  early  and  entire  possession  of 
**  his  mind,  and  held  it  to  the  last;  he  would  willingly 
*'  have  closed  his  career  of  glory  in  the  act  of  asserting 
^  within  these  walls  the  liberties  of  his  countrymen,  but 
**  still  regarding  them  as  connected  with  the  strength, 
**  the  cdncord,  and  the  security  of  the  empire.  Sir,  he 
"  was  alive  to  fame  —  to  the  fame  that  follows  virtue. 
'^  The  love  of  it  clung  to  him  to  the  last  moments  of  his 
**  life  ;*but  though  he  felt  that  *■  last  infirmity  of  noble 
*'  minds,'  never  did  there  breathe  a  human  being  who 
"  had  a  more  lofty  disdain  for  the  shallow  and  treacher- 
"  ous  popularity  which  is  to  be  courted  by  subserviency, 
^*  and  purchased  at  the  expense  of  principle  and  duty. 
**  He  felt  that  this  question  was  not  to  be  carried  as  the 
27* 


i'fi'* . 


SI18 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH   THE 


"  triumph  of  a  party,  or  of  a  sect,  but  to  be  pursued  as  a 
^  great  measure  of  public  good,  in  which  all  were  bound 
'*  to  forego  their  prejudices,  and  to  humble  their  passions 
*"  for  the  attainment  of  juntice  and  of  peace.  Sir,  in  the 
*** humble  walk,  and  at  the  immeasurable  distance  at 
"  which  it  is  my  lot  to  follow  the  footsteps  ot  my  illns- 
"  trious  friend,  I  pledge  myself  to  be  governed  by  the 
**  same  spirit.  I  have  a  firm  and  entire  persuasion  that 
**  justice  and  policy  require  that  the  prayer  of  this  peti- 
**  tion  should  be  complied  with;  but  I  am  equally  son- 
**  vinced  that,  if  this  question  is  pressed,  or  carried  on 
"  any  other  terms  than  those  which  will  give  full  satis- 
**  faction  to  the  Protestant  mind,  it  cannot  be  productive 
**  of  good.  All  these  objects  appear  to  me  to  be  attain- 
**  able :  with  this  view  and  in  this  temper  only  will  I 
**  prosecute  them."  \ 

This  man,  also,  though  able  and  honest,  was  short- 
sighted. "  Terms"  which  would  "satisfy  the  Protestant 
mind"  could  jiot  possibly  satisfy  the  Catholic  He  did 
not  understand  the  consequences  of  "the  reformation." 
It  is  clear  he  must  fail  with  all  his  eloquence  and  energy. 

Mr.  Plunkett's  bill  of  1821  was  very  similar  to  that  of 
1813;*  it  was  supported  by  Canning,  Wilberforce,  and 
Mackintosh :  it  was  opposed  by  Scott,  Peel,  and  some 
nameless  bigots.  It  was  carried,  on  a  third  reading,  by 
a  majority  of  216  to  197.;  the  Lords'  House  rejected  it  by 
159  to  120.  Both  in  this  and  the  next  Parliament,  the 
Lords  were  frequently  in  collision  with  the  Comrrions  on 
this  question.  In  1822,  Mr.  Canning's  bill  to  enable 
Catholic  peers  to  take  their  seats  was  rejected  by  them ; 
in  the  Commons  it  had  an  overplus  of  21,  while  in  the 
Lords  it  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  271  hoes  to 
129  ayie?. 

The  mind  of  Daniel  O'Connell  had  been  much  occu- 
pied, since  the  dissolution  of  the  Catholic  board,  in  pre- 
paring a  project  for  another  effort.     A  Catholic,  an  anti- 

*  The  Catholic  prelates  of  Leinster,  in  a  meeting  at  St.  Michael  and 
John's  Church,  Duolin,  Archbishop  Troy  in  the  chair,  expressed  their 
disapprobation  of  the  veto  clause.  With  that  exception  they  approved 
Plunkett's  bill  of  1821. 


->f 


PR0TB8TAN1  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


ai9 


revolutionist,  and  a  lawyer,  he  was  trebly  bound  to  the 
peace.  Looking  around,  'n  both  islands,  he  saw  a  vast 
outlying  multitude  of  non-electors,  surrounding  the  edi- 
fice of  a  representative  government  To  agitate  this 
stagnant  mass  of  still  life ;  to  control  the  agitation  with"* 
in  the  limits  of  law ;  by  constant  ^*  pressure  from  with- 
out,*' to  extract  concessions  constitutionally  from  an  un- 
willing oligarchy, —  these  were  his  tactics.  After  the 
event,  it  appears  a  simple,  or,  indeed,  a  vulgar  design : 
there  is  little  apparent  originality  or  heroism  in  it.  Yet, 
in  the  winter  evenings  of  1822-^,  when  these  thoughts 
throbbed  under  the  fuH  temples  of  O'Connell,  they  were 
rare  discoveries.  They  were  parts  of  a  machinery  of 
peaceful  political  association,  unknown  before  that  time 
in  constitutional  or  despotic  states.  It  was  a  plan  as 
new  to  the  Irish  Catholics  as  to  others.  The  petitioning 
committees  of  1757  and  1773,  the  conventions  of  1793 
and  1811,  the  late  board  —  all  did  their  work  in  a  select 
circle,  and  by  sending  out  deputations  to  the  constituents, 
or  to  the  government.  This  new  system  proposed  to 
make  the  aggregate  public  the  chief  agent;  to  deliberate 
in  committee,  and  decide  before  the  face  of  the  people; 
to  accept  the  peasant's  penny  as  well  as  the  peer's  pound ; 
to  make  the  press  the  daily  deputy  of^the  constituent 
multitude.  We  cannot  approve  of  such  an  extrajudi- 
cial combination  in  many  cases ;  but  in  this  case,  for 
which  the  machinery  was  originally  invented,  we  will 
find  it  work  wonderfully  well.  It  is  of  course  to  be  re- 
membered that  the  inventor  remained  the  overseer  of 
his  own  work. 

One  of  his  earliest  converts  to  the  proposed  plan  of 
action  was  Mr.  Shiel,  whom  he  accidentally  met  at  the 
house  of  a  mutual  friend  in  Wicklow,  and  not  only  co:  • 
ciliated,  but  enlisted.  March,  April,  and  the  early  part 
of  May  were  spent  upon  a  series  of  parish  meeting  i|i 
Dublin,  for  which  purpose  the  churches,  or  "  chapels,**^  a« 
they  were  then  called,  were  placed  at  his  disposal. 
O'Connell  was  then  at  his  best,  and  his  various  ha- 
rangues stirred  to  life  the  desponding  and  the  fearful.  A 
preliminary  meeting  had  been  held  for  business  on  the 
4th  of  February,  another  on  the  23d  of  May,  at  which 


320 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH    THE 


rules  were  adopted,  one  of  which  bound  the  members  to 
meet  every  Saturday.*  The  meetings  for  some  time 
were  thinly  attended,  and  the  receipts  were  proportionate 


*  Ratea  and  Regutation*  of  the  CatMie  Aatoeiation  of  Ireland,  eomnieneing 

Saturday,  2\th  May,  1823. 

Joseph  McDonnell,  Esq.,  in  the  chair.  '  ^ 

The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  the  draught  of  laws  and  regulations 
for  the  Association  reported,  whereupon  th^e  following  resolutions  were 
adopted :  — 

That  the  Catholic  Association  be  formed  to  adopt  all  such  legal  and 
constitutional  measures  as  may  be  most  useful  to  obtain  Catholic  eman« 
cipation. 

That  the  Association  is  not  a  representative  or  delegated  body ;  and 
that  it  will  not  assume  any  representative  or  delegated  authority  or  quality. 

That  such  individuals  as  shall  give  in  their  names  to  the  secretary,  and 

Ky  an  annual  subscription  of  one  pound  two  shillings  and  ninepence, 
members  of  this  Aasociation ;  and  that  same  be  payable  each  first  day 
of  January. 

That  no  motion  shall  be  debated  at  any  meeting  of  this  Association 
without  one  week's  previous  notice. 

That  all  reporters  for  newspapers,  &c.,  be  at  liberty  to  attend  all  the 
meetings  of  the  Association. 

That  the  Secretary  do  call  an  extraordinary  meeting  of  the  Association 
Whenever  required,  by  a  requisition  signed  by  at  least  twenty  members. 

That  the  proceedings  of  the  Association,  as  well  as  notices  of  motions, 
be  entered  in  a  book  always  open  for  inspection  and  reference;  and  that 
a  book  be  also  kept,  containing  as  well  the  names  aa  the  address  of  each 
member,  to  be  always  open  for  inspection. 

That  no  member  be  allowed  to  speak  twice  in  any  discussion,  except 
the  mover  of  th^  original  question,  who  shall  have  the  right  to  reply ; 
such  reply  to  close  the  debate. 

That  during  any  discussion  every  member  be  seated,  except  the  mem- 
ber addressing  the  chairman. 

That  the  object  of  the  foregoing  resolutions  is  to  prevent  as  much  as 
possible  any  debate  or  discussion  but  what  must  be  absolutely  necessary 
to  ascertain  the  sense  of  each  meeting. 

That  Saturday  be  the  fixed  day  of  meeting,  subject  to  such  adjourn- 
ment as  the  Association  may  agree  to. 

That  at  least  ten  members  must  be  in  attendance  in  order  to  constitute 
a- meeting  of  this  Association. 

That  three  o'clock  in  the  ttEtemoon  be  the  fixed  hour  of  all  meetings ; 
and  that  so  soon  as  ten  members  are  in  attendance  after  three  o'clock,  die 
chair  shall  be  immediately  taken. 

Treasurers  and  secretaries  were  appointed. 

Joseph  M'DonnblIi,  Chairman, 
N.  PvRCBLi.  O'GoBXAN,  Secretary, 
—  Wyse,  History  of  the  Late  Catholic  Aasociation,  vol.  i.  pp.  37,  38. 

The  members  present  at  this  first  meeting  were.  The  O'Connor  Don, 
Sir  £d.  Bellew,  D.  O'Connell,  Nicholas  Mahon,  Eneas  McDonnell,  Richard 
Shiel,  B.  Lonergan,  and  Messrs.  Callaghan,  Scanlan,  Oldham,  and  Hay. 


PROTESTANT   REFOOMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


331 


to  the  namben,  averaging  under  ten  pounds  per  week. 
The  system  of  parochial  collections  began  to  spread :  in 

1824,  the  receipts  rose  to  average  between  thirty  and 
forty  pounds  per  week;  the  clergy,  the  bar,  and  the 
gentry  began  to  join ;  the  press  revolved  for  the  Catholic 
cause;  the  systematic  indastry  of  O'Connell  had  pre- 
vailed over  the  lethargy  of  his  contemporaries.  In  the 
second  year,  the  association  removed  to  the  Corn. Ex- 
change rooms,  which  continued  for  many  years  the  Par- 
liament of  the  agitation. 

In  the  imperial  legislature,  in  1823,  Mr.  Plunkett,  in 
moving  for  a  committee,  had  been  again  defeated  by  a 
motion  for  adjournment  In  1824,  bills  enabling  Catho- 
lics to  vote  at  elections  and  act  as  magistrates  were 
also  defeated.  An  act  enabling  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to 
discharge  his  duties  as  earl  marshal  was  passed.     In 

1825,  Plunkett  and  Canning,  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the 
king,  refused  to  propose  the  reference  of  Catholic  peti- 
tions, which,  in  this,  and  the  two  following  years,  were 
chiefly  intrusted  to  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  the  whig  radi- 
cal member  for  Westminster.  The  eloquent  gentleman 
just  named  had  still  further  oflfended  by  voting  for  the 
act  to  suppress  the  Catholic  Association,  commonly 
called  "  the  Aigerine  acf  The  plea  for  this  law  was, 
that  it  would  leave  Parliament  free  to  legislate  on  the 
question,  without  pretence  of  intimidation.  No  such 
legislation  followed,  and  on  the  13th  Jnly,  1825,  the 
association  was  revived,  under  new  rules,  technically 
different,  but  in  effect  the  same  as  the  old.  An  immense 
accession  of  strength  followed ;  twenty-six  bishops,  three 
thousand  priests,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  members, 
including  fourteen  hundred  Protestants,  were  found  upon 
its  muster  roil. 

In  1825,  certain  Catholics,  clerical  and  lay,  had  been 
summoned  to  appear  before  a  committee  of  Parliament. 
This  was  an  important  innovation  —  the  first  of  the  kind 
since  the  days  of  the  Stuarts.  In  February,  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell  and  the  laymen  were  examined ;  in  March,  the 
Archbishops  of  Armagh,  Dublin,  and  Cashel,  the  Rt  Rev. 
Dr.  Magauran,  and  the  Rt  Rev.  Dr.  Doyle  were  exam- 


322 


ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH   THB 


ined.  Dr.  Doyle's  evidence  was  the  most  minute  and 
particular,  and  in  some  respects  the  most  important 
We  believe  it  is  now  understood  that  some  of  his  opin- 
ions were  considered  heterodox  at  Rome ;  but  the  respect 
entertained  for  his  life  and  talents  by  the  sacred  college 
prevented  any  action  being  taken  upon  them.  The  effect 
of  the  examination  was  salutary  at  the  time.  Mr.  Daw- 
son, a  near  relative  of  Mr.  Peel,  Mr.  Brownlow,  after- 
wards Lord  Lurgan,  and  other  opponents  of  the  Catho- 
lic claims,  declared  themselves  converted  to  their  side. 
Both  houses  of  Parliament  subnequently  were  in  the 
habit  tif  quoting  the  examinations  of  1825  as  authority, 
thus  rehearsinff  Catholic  definitions  of  Catholic  doctrine. 
Soon  after  the  examinations  closed,  the  emancipation 
bill  passed  the  Commons  with  Burdeti's  "  two  wings " 
attached  —  one  providing  that  the  state  should  support 
the  priesthoru;  the  other  disfranchising  the  L'ish  "forty 
shilling"  freeholders,  who  were  chieHy  Catholics,  regis- 
tered under  the  act  of  1793.  On  the  18th  of  May,  it 
came  up  for  discussion  in  the  Lords,  when  the  Duke  of 
York  made  his  impious  declaration,*  that,  "  so  help  him 


*  A  metrioal  travesty  of  thii  *'  speech  presumptiv  ?,"  which  appeared 
in  one  of  the  London*  morning  papers,  has  heen  ascribed  to  Thomas 
Moore.    The  following  is  a  sample  of  this  satire :  — 

*•  Though  Mr.  Leslie  Foster  winced 

FrOm  what  he  once  asserted ; 
Though  Mr.  Brownlow  is  convinced* 

And  Mr.  North  converted ; 
lliougl^  even  country  gentlemen 

Are  sick  of  half  their  maggots, 
And  rustics  mock  the  vicar,  when 

He  prates  of  fiery  fisgots ; 
Though  Hume  and  Brougham,  and  twenty  more,  ' 

Are  swaggering  and  swearing. 
And  Scarlett  hopes  the  scarlet  whore   . 

Will  not  be  found  past  bearing ; 
Though  Reverend  Norwich  does  not  mind 

The  feuds  of  two  and  seven,  v 

And  trusts  that  humble  prayers  may  find 

A  dozen  roads  to  heaven,  — 
Till  royal  heads  are  lit  with  gas, 

Till  Hebrews  dine  on  pork. 
My  lords,  this  bill  shall  never  ppss ; 

So  help  me  God ! "  said  York. 


PB0TB8TANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


323 


God,  in  every  situation  in  whicli  lie  might  be  placecl,  he 
would  uphold  the  principles  of  hostility  to  Catholics  in 
which  he  bad  been  bred.'*  This  from  the  king's  brother, 
the  heir  presumptive,  decided  their  lordships.  The  bill 
was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  178  to  130.  Shortly  after  this, 
the  duke  suddenly  died,  and  his  more  liberal  brother 
William  became  the  next  claimant  to  the  crown. 

The  year  1825  was  further  remarkable  for  the  ora- 
torical deputation  to  England,  composed  of  Councillors 
O'ConneU,  Shiel,  Brie,  Sergeant  Shee,  and  one  or  two 
others.  The  meetings  at  London,  Liverpool,  and  Pen- 
endcn  Heath,  in  Kent,  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  sym- 
pathies of  non-Catholics.  Bentham,  Cobbett,  and  the 
radicals  cordially  exerted  themselves  to  help  forward  the 
projected  emancipation ;  acting,  as  one  might  expect, 
more  on  radical  than  religious  grounds. 

In  1826,  a  general  election  occurred  on  a  change 
of  ministry.  Canning  and  Lord  Goderich  succeeding 
Lord  Liverpool  for  a  few  months,  to  be  succeeded  by 
Wellington  and  Peel.  In  this  election,  the  association 
tried  its  strength  with  the  Beresfords  in  Waterford,  the 
Fosters  in  Louth,  and  the  Leslies  in  Monaghan  ;  who,  of 
all  the  aristocracy,  were  most  devoted  to  the  establishment 
They  triumphecl  in  each  instance,  and  had  the  experi- 
ment been  general,  might  have  done  so  to  a  much  greater 
extent  The  forty  shilling  freeholders,  the  army  of  Irish 
liberty,  still  remained  to  nght  the  good  fight,  and  conquer 
for  their  friends.  The  results  of  1826  added  immensely 
to  the  influence  of  the  association  both  at  home  and 
abroad.* 


*  The  Irish  landlord!  felt  their  defeat  severely,  and  commenced  a  sys» 
tern  of  vindictive  retaliation  by  ejecting,  without  mercy,  all  the  tenants 
who  had  proved  refractory.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Catholic  Association 
organized  '*  A  Tenant  Protection  Rent,"  which  soon  amounted  to  a  con- 
siderable sum ;  at  the  same  time,  it  was  very  broadly  hinted  that  Cath- 
olic creditors  would  foreclose  the  mortgages  of  those  landlords  who  chose 
to  indulge  in  the  luxury  of  persecution.  This  was  a  perilous  menace  to 
men  overwhelmed  with  debt,  and  only  nominal  owners  of  their  estates. 
The  landlords  soon  saw  that  they  would  have  the  worst  in  the  conflict ; 
they  desisted  one  by  one,  and  even  employed  the  priests,  in  many  cases, 
to  make  amicable  arrangements  for  them  with  tneir  own  tenants."  — 
Reminitcenaet  of  (7  ConneU,  p.  65. 


334 


ATTEMPT!   TO  BITABLISU   TUB 


The  Paris  press  conveyed  to  the  European  continent 
the  records  or  a  struggle  once  more  restored  io  interna- 
tional consequence.  The  Duke  de  Montebello,  Mestirs. 
Duvergier  and  Thayer,  visited  Ireland  in  1826.  Duver- 
gier  wrote  a  series  of  very  interesting  letters  on  **  the 
state  of  Ireland/'  at  the  time,  which  went  through  sev- 
eral editions.  At  the  Ballinasloe  meeting  the  Duke  de 
Montebello  had  a  vote  of  thanks  presented  to  him,  which 
he  gracefully  acknowledged,  expressing  his  wishes  for  the 
success  of  their  cause.  This  simple  act  excited  much 
apprehension  and  a  deal  of  discussion  at  court  and  at  the 
ca!«tle.*  The  Paris  press  was  still  more  attracted  in 
connequence,  and  the  French  Catholics,  informed  of  the 
state  of  affairs,  voted  an  address  and  subscription  to  the 
Dublin  association.  The  Bavarian  Catholics  followed 
their  example,  and  encouraging  assurances  were  received* 
from  Spain  and  Italy. 

One  address  from  British  India  contained  a  contribu- 
tion of  three  thousand  pounds  sterling.  From  the  West 
Indies  and  Canada  proportionate  asnistance  was  ren- 
dered. Dublin  had  become  the  Catholic  capital  of  the 
empire,  the  association  its  senate,  and  O' Council  its 
prince  or  president. 

In  the  United  States  of  America  — the  natural  asylum 
of  multitudes  of  persecuted  Irish  Catholics  —  this  sym- 
pathetic movement  was  most  active.  New  York  felt 
almost  as  interested  in  the  cause  as  Dublin.  In  1826  and 
1827,  associations  to  cooperate  with  O'Connell  were 
formed  at  New  York,  Boston,  Washington,  Norfolk, 
Charleston,  Augusta,  Louisville,  and  Bardstown.  Ad- 
dresses in  English  and  French  were  prepared  for  these 
societies,  chiefly  by  Dr.  McNevin,  at  New  Vork,  and 
Bishop  Englandf,  at  Charleston.  The  Americcti'.  V.ke  the 
French  press,  became  interested  in  the  subjt  rr,  h.  v  fo- 
quent  allusions  were  made  to  it  in  Congre^d.  On  the 
20th  of  January,  1828,  McNevin  wrote  to  O'Conhell,— 

**  Public  opinion  in  America  is  deep,  and  strongs  and 


*  Duvdr«j;\i::.  t  j^ettc/r^,  Appendix  to  Wyse's  History  of  the  Catholio 


Associatiou,  iji. 


'.  i't 


T 


m: 


PROTEiTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


396 


l\ 


**  univeraali  in  vc>  ir  behalf.  Thifl  predilection  prevails 
**  over  the  broad  bi>.»om  of  our  extensive  continent.  At- 
"  Bociations  similnr  to  ours  are  every  where  starting  into 
"  existence  — in  our  largest  an<i  wealthiest  citi«^s — in 
**  our  hamletM  aol  our  v  ''ages  —  in  our  most  rcmolt 
**  sections;  and  ui  fhis  moment,  the  propriety  of  con- 
"  vening,  at  Washingtor),  delegates  of  Lb»'  friends  of  Ire- 
**  land,  of  all  the  states,  is  under  serious  deliberation.  A 
*^  fund  will  ere  long  be  derived  from  American  patriotism 
**  in  the  United  States,  which  will  astonish  your  haugh- 
•*  tiest  opponents."  * 

All  the  foreign  influence  that  an  unrecognized  de  facto 
government  could  exercise  was  thus  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  managers  of  the  association  at  Dublin. 

Protestantism,  coni^cious,  by  all  its  instincts,  of  the 
recovering  energies  of  the  faithful,  made  in  those  busy 
years  a  desperate  effort  to  revive  the  cau!«e  of  the  refor- 
mation. In  1824,  and  the  five  succeeding  years,  '*  the 
Bible  Societies"  concentrated  all  their  fund.^  and  energies 
on  Ireland.  Native  bigots,  like  Parsons  Pof>c  and  Lees, 
were  subsidized  and  cheered  on:  allies,  like  the  Hon. 
Baptist  Noel,  Mr.  Wolff,  and  Captain  Gordon,  a  de- 
scendant of  the  lord  of  the  London  riot,  were  provided 
for  them  by  Exeter  Hall.  At  Derry,  Dublin,  Carlow, 
and  Cork,  the  itinerants  challenged  tne  clergy  to  defend 
their  doctrines.  Fathers  Maginn,  Maguire,  Mi  her,  Mc- 
Sweeney,  and  some  others,  accepted  these  challenses, 
and  the  oral  discussion  of  theological  and  historical 
questions  became  as  common  as  town  talk  in  ev^^ry  Irish 
community.  Whether,  in  any  case,  these  debates  con- 
duced to  the  conversion  of  Protestants  is  doubtful ;  but 
they  certainly  supplied  the  Catholic  laity  with  i  body 
of  facts  and  arguments  very  necessary  at  that  tine,  and 
which  hardly  any  other  occasion  could  have  presented. 
The  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Doyle,  who  was  justly  considered 
the  ablest  Irish  bishop  of  his  time,  though  he  tolerated  a 
first  discussion,  positively  forbade  a  second.     Among 


*  Wyse's  History  of  the  Late  Catholic  Association,  yo!   L   Appen- 
dix, p.  210. 

28 


326 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


the  cogent  reasons  he  gave  his  clergy  fior  so  doing  were 
these :  —  ^ 

"  With  such  men  there  can  be  no  common  principles 
**  to  which  they  could  be  bound  to  adhere ;  or  if  there 
"  were  any,  they  could  be  departed  from  by  theni  as  soon 
"  as  their  opinions  underwent  a  change;  but  in  no  case 
"  would  such  principles  express  a  form  of  religious  be- 
"  lief  binding  upon  any  others  than  those  who  might 
"  subscribe  to  them.  You  who  are  Catholics,  professing 
"  a  clearly-defined  faith,  can  never  meet  men  who  are 
"  thus  tossed  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,  upon  a 
"  footing  of  equality:  they  may  be  worsted  in  argumen*^, 
"  convicted  of  error,  confounded  at  the  exposure  of  their 
"  own  contradictions  or  folly;  but  they  alone  can  suffer; 
"  no  one  is  responsible  for  their  errors,  no  person  need 
"  blush  at  their  confusion,  no  man  is  a  partner  in  their 
"  shame.  Not  so  with  you.  .  If,  through  error,  mistake, 
"  ignorance,  or  forgetfulness,  you  leave  an  objection  un- 
"  refuted,  or  an  aspersion  not  wiped  away,  such  objection 
"  or  aspersion  stands  recorded  against  your  church,  and 
"  the  chaste  spouse  of  Christ  suffers  in  your  person  from 
"  the  blasphemy  of  her  apostate  children. 

"  You  are  to  avoid  these  disputes,  because  by  entering 
"  into  them  you  appear  to  call  in  question  those  truths 
"  which  are  already  defined  by  t:he  Holy  Ghost  and  by 
"  us,  that  is,  by  the  bishops,  the  successors  of  the  apos- 
"  ties.  You  agree,  as  it  were,  to  impanel  a  jury,  of  I 
"  know  not  what  description  of  persons,  to  try  the  ques- 
"  tion  whether  Christ  is  with  us  teaching  all  days,  even  to 
"  the  end  of  the  world;  whether  the  Holy  Ghost  has,  or  has 
"  not  taught  our  fathers  all  truth ;  whether  we  be  placed 
"  by  him  to  rule  the  church  of  God ;  whether  this  church 
"  be,  or  be  not,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  truth ;  whether 
"  those  whom  we  leave  bound  on  earth  be  bound  in 
"  heaven ;  or  whether  the  gates  of  hell  have  prevailed,  or 
"  can  prevail,  against  the  church ;  whether,  again,  this 
"  church  has  been  buried  in  idolatry  for  eight  hundred 
"  years;  whether,  in  fine,  those  who  refuse  to  hear  her, 
"  and  who  thereby  despise  Christ,  and  the  Father  who 
"  sent  him,  are,  or  are  not,  as  heathens  and  publicans 


h 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


327 


!  J 


before  God.  These  truths,  reverend  brethren,  which 
would  be  thus  subjected,  as  it  were,  to  trial,  are  clear 
and  incontestable;  you  yourselves  have  enforced  them 
by  much  argument  and  great  eloquence;  and  it  is  be- 
cause they  are  immovable,  and  because  your  argu- 
ments in  support  of  them  are  able,  convincing,  and 
unanswerable,  that  the  members  of  the  Bible  Society 
wish,  by  inviting  you  to  a  renewed  discussion,  to 
turn  public  attention  from  the  palpable  folly  of  their 
proceedings. 

"  You  should  not  dispute  with  these  men  in  the  man- 
ner proposed,  because  there  is  no  tribunal  on  the  earth 
competent  to  try  the  issue  between  you.  The  errors 
maintained  by  the  members  of  the  Bible  Society  regard 
either  the  primary  articles  of  the  Christian  faith,  or 
truths  already  defined  by  the  church.  Both  these 
classes  of  truths  are  im  Dvably  and  definitely  set- 
tled :  God,  or  his  church,  or  rather  both,  have  spoken ; 
and  as  St.  Augustine  said  to  the  Pelagians,  '  The  cause 
is  concluded;  I  wish  the  error  would  at  length  cease'  — 
Causa  finita  est;  utinam  aliquandojiniretur  error.    There 

*  can  be  no  new  hearing,  no  new  trial.     The  church  at 

*  Trent  invited   the   heretics  of  the   sixteenth   century 
'  (those  who  broached  or  renewed  the  errors  which  are 

now  revived)  to  plead  their  own  cause  before  the 
council :  these  blind  and  obstinate  men  refused  to  do 
so,  but  their  cause  was  examined  fully  and  dispassion- 
ately; sentence  was  at  length  passed,  and  the  matter 
set  at  rest  forever.  Causa  finila  est.  It  can  never  be 
revived :  it  hath  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
to  our  fathers  so  to  determine;  there  can  be  no  re- 
hearing of  the  case;  there  is  no  higher  tribunal  consti- 
tuted by  God,  no  one  or  many  to  whom  a  new  issue 
could  be  directed  for  trial.  *  Whosoever  does  not 
hear  the  church,  let  him  be  to  thee  a  heathen  and  a 
^  publican.' 

"  Lastly,  you  should  not  contend,  as  is  proposed,  with 
"  men  over  whom  a  triumph  could  be  productive  of  no 
"  permanent  advantage :  as  individuals  they  may  be 
"  learned  and  respectable ;  but  as  religionists  they  arei 


\ 


328 


ATTEMPTS    Td    ESTABLISH    THE 


"  deserving  only  of  your  unmixed  pitv.  They  profess  to 
**  be  seeking  for  truth ;  this  can  only  be  found  in  the 
**  Catholic  eimrch ;  and  the  faith  which  believes  in  it,  as 
"  there  propounded,  is  a  gift  of  God  — to  be  obtained, 
*'  not  by  disputation,  but  by  humility,  alms-deeds,  and 
"  prayers.  The  judgment  of  man  is  too  slow  and  too 
^  unsettled;  the  objects  of  its  investigation  are  too 
"mysterious  and  too  far  removed:  it  may  reason  in- 
"terminably  and  dispute,  but  it  can  never  determine; 
"  authority  alone  cm  n  decide."  * 

The  Archbishop  of  Armagh  and  other  prelates  issued 
similar  circulars  to  their  clergy  to  refrain  from  oral  dis- 
putes. The  discussions  at  Derry,  Dublin,  Carlo w,  and 
Cork,  were  subsequent  to  this:  the  practice  gradually  fell 
into  disuse.  Controversial  lectures  and  the  agency  of 
the  press  have  been  chiefly  resorted  to  of  late  days,  and 
with  far  greater  success. 

The  short-lived  notoriety  of  "  the  second  reformation  " 
was  chiefly  due  to  the  ostentatious  patronage  of  it  by 
the  Protestant  aristocracy.  A  Mr.  Synge,  in  Clare,  Lord 
Lorton,  and  a  Mr.  McClintock,  at  Dundalk,  were  inde- 
fatigable in  their  attempts  at  fattening  prize  converts 
for  evangelical  exhibitions.  The  Earl  of  Roden, — 
brother  to  the  Protestant  Bishop  of  Clogher,  convicted 
of  nameless  crimes, — to  show  his  entire  dependence  on 
the  translated  Bible,  —  threw  all  his  other  books  into  a 
fish  pond  on  his  estate.  Maxwell,  Lord  Farnham,  was 
still  more  conspicuous  in  the  revival ;  he  spared  neither 
patronage  nor  writs  of  ejectment  to  convert  his  tenantry. 
The  vaunting  reports  of  conversions  upon  his  lordship's 
estates,  dnd  throughout  his  county,  attracted  so  much 
notice,  that  Drs.  Curtis,  CroHy,  Magauran,  O'Reilly, 
and  McHale  met  on  the  9th  of  December,  1826,  at  Ca- 
van,  to  inquire  into  the  facts.  They  found  that,  whib 
there  had  been  gross  exaggeration  on  the  part  of  the 
reformers,  yet  that  a  few  hundreds  of  the  peasantry  had, 
by  various  powerful  temptations,  been  led  into  apostasy. 
Their  lordships,  while  there,  received  back  some  of  the 

•  Life  of  Dr.  Doyle,  pp.  184,  185.   New  York:  D.  &  J.  SadHer. 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


329 


unfortunates,  and  the  following  jubilee  brought  nearly 
all  the  reijtt,  in  tears  of  heartfelt  sorrow,  to  the  confes- 
sional. The  Hon.  Mr.  Noel  and  Captain  Gordon  posted 
to  Cavan,  and  waited  upon  the  bishops  with  a  ehal'enge 
to  discuss  doctrines  with  them.  Of  course,  their  cartel 
was  not  received  by  the  prelates.  Moore's  inimitable 
satire  was  the  most  effective  weapon  against  such 
fanatics.* 

In  the  reign  of  George  IV.  the  Irish  and  British  press 
was  more  occupied  with  Catholic  subjects  than  with 
any  other.  Of  her  own  children  the  church  reckoned 
Drs.  Milner  and  Doyle,  Thomas  Moore,  Charles  But- 
ler, and  some  others  less  known  among  her  defenders ; 
of  "  liberal  Protestants,"  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  Mr.  Jef- 
frey, Sydney  Smith,  and  William  Cobbett  deserve  spe- 
cial remembrance.  In  opposition  to  these,  the  writers  of 
Blackwood's  Magazine^  then  in  its  prime,  Archbishop 
Magee  of  Dublin,  and  the  Rev.  George  Croly,  since 
rector  of  St.  Stephen's,  London,  were  most  conspicuous. 


N^ 


*  Thomas  Furlong,  not  inaptly  called  the  Irish  Churchill,  (though  his 
personal  character  embraced  all  the  virtues  Churchill's  wanted,)  had  a 
considerable  share  in  the  biblical  war.  As  a  specimen  of  his  powers,  we 
give  *  is  portrait  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Qraham,  of  Magilligan,  a  small*be^ 
poet,  and  a  foaming  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  in  Ulster :  — 

'*  Lo,  as  his  second,  in  these  troublous  times, 
Comes  crazy  Graham,  with  his  ribald  rhymes. 
View  the  vile  doggerel,  slowly  dragged  along. 
To  mock  at  grief^  and  sneer  away  a  wrong. 
Mark  how  he  stoops,  laboriously  to  drain  ■  '  4    '  t 

The  last,  low  oozing  of  his  muddy  brain,  .     ■,\.      -.  rv' 

,^j.  Until*  at  length,  as  champion  of  the  cause, 

He  gains  his  end  —  promotion  and  applause. 

:    It  comes !  'tis  his  —  his  object  from  the  first  — 
i        'Tis  his  !  and  now  let  Popery  do  its  worst.  -,. 

The  low-born  crowd  may  toil  to  swell  his  pride, 
'Tis  his  to  take,  to  triumph,  and  deride ; 
'Tis  his  of  new-framed  acts  to  make  the  best, 
To  jeer  his  slaves,  and  call  his  faith  a  jest ;  . ..  ' 

*      'Tis  his  to  grasp  what  cant  or  craft  hath  won ;  :  ■ 

'Tis  theirs  to  strive,  to  struggle,  and  pay  on. 

'    View  this,  ye  dolts,  who  prate  about  the  poor ; 
View  it,  ye  scribes,  and  say,  shall  it  endure  ? 
View  it,  ye  race,  who  reason  from  the  past, 
And  ask  your  hearts  if  such  can  always  last" 

The  Plaauea  of  Ireland,  a  Poem.    Dublin  :  1827. 

.     28* 


!,t' 


'■■>      ■-. 


330 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


Some  of  the  Blackwood  writers,  and  both  the  latter 
were  Irish  Protestants.  When,  in  1827,  the  Wellington 
administration  came  into  office,  there  could  be  little 
doubt  upon  which  side  the  most  heart  and  learning  was 
engaged. 

The  intimate  connection  of  argument  and  action,  in 
the  career  of  the  Catholic  Association,  gives  a  coherency 
and  interest  to  its  records  which  no  mere  agitation  could 
supply.     Every  year  new  facts  come  up,  marking  the  ac- 
tual progress  better  than  words.     The  holding  of  simul- 
taneous  meetings,  the  deputations  to  England,  the  evi* 
dence  before  Parliament,  the  foreign  subsidies  received, 
the  taking  of  a  Catholic  census,  and  establishment  of 
"  liberal  clubs,"  are  events  which  may  be  said  to  rise  tt 
the  dignity  of  historical.     They  kept  the  orators  in  coun 
tenance,  and  the  people  of  good  cheer.     We  now  ap 
proach  their  natural  conclusion  —  '*  the   Clare  election,' 
at  which  O^Connell  was  returned  to  Parliament,  in  June 
1828;  and  the  fact  that  the  long-sough t-for  relief  bill, 
"received  the  royal  assent"  in  April,  1829. 

Mr.  Fitzgerald,  the  sitting  member  for  Clare,  having 
accepted  office  early  in  1828,  under  the  Wellington  gov- 
ernment, and  Major  McNamara,  the  expected  "liberal 
Protestant"  candidate,  having  declined,  at  the  last  mo- 
ment, to  oppose  him,  Mr.  O'Connell  issued  his  address 
to  the  electors  —  a  document  which  is  the  very  reflex  of 
it«  writer.     It  begins  thus :  — 

"  You  will  be  told  I  am  not  qualified  to  be  elected : 
"  the  assertion,  my  friends,  is  untrue.  I  am  qualified  to 
"  be  elected,  and  to  be  your  representative.  It  is  true 
"  that,  as  a  Catholic,  I  cannot,  and  of  course  never  will, 
"  take  the  oaths  at  present  prescribed  to  members  of  Par- 
"  liament;  but  the  authority  which  created  these  oaths 
"  (the  Parliament)  can  abrogate  them ;  and  I  entertain 
"  a  confident  hope  that,  if  you  elect  me,  the  most  bigoted 
"  of  our  enemies  will  see  the  necessity  of  removing  from 
"  the  chosen  representative  of  the  people  an  obstacle 
"  which  would  prevent  him  from  doing  his  duty  to  his 
"  king  and  to  his  country. 

"  The  oath  at  present  required  by  law  is,  *  that  the 


1 1 


\' 


PROTEStANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND 


331 


, 'i' 


h'\ 


"  sacrifice  of  the  maas,  and  the  invocation  of  the  Blessed 
"  Virgin  Mary,  and  other  saints,  as  now  practised  in  the 
"  church  of  Rome,  are  impious  and  idolatrous.'  Of 
"  course  I  will  never  stain  my  soul  with  such  an  oath  : 
"  I  leave  that  to  my  honorable  opponent,  Mr.  Vesey  Fitz- 
"  gerald ;  he  has  often  taken  that  horrible  oath ;  he  is 
"  ready  to  take  il  -again,  and.  asks  your  votes  to  enable 
"him  so  to  swear.  I  would  rather  be  torn  limb  from 
"  limb  than  take  it.  Electors  of  the  county  of  Clare ! 
"  choose  between  me,  v/ho  abominates  that  oath,  and 
"  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald,  who  has  sworn  it  full  twenty 
"  times!  Return  me  to  Parliament,  and  it  is  probable 
"  that  such  a  blasphemous  oath  will  be  abolished  forever. 
"  As  your  representative,  I  will  try  the  question  with  the 
"  friends  in  Parliament  of  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald.  They 
"  may  send  me  to  prison.  I  am  ready  to  go  there  to 
"  promote  the  cause  of  the  Catholics,  and  of  universal 
"  liberty.  The  discussion  which  the  attempt  to  exclude 
"  your  representative  from  the  House  of  Commons  must 
"  excite  will  create  a  sensation  all  over  Europe,  and 
"  produce  such  a  burst  of  contemptuous  indignation 
"  against  British  bigotry,  in  every  enlightened  country  in 
"  the  world,  that  the  voice  of  all  the  great  and  good  in 
"  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  being  joined  to  the 
"  universal  shout  of  the  nations  of  the  earth,  will  over- 
"  power  every  opposition,  and  render  it  impossible  for 
"  Peel  and  Wellington  any  longer  to  close  the  doors  of 
"  the  constitution  against  the  Catholics  of  Ireland. 

"  Electors  of  the  county  of  Clare !  Mr.  Vesey  Fitz- 
"  gerald  claims  as  his  only  merit  that  he  is  a  friend  to 
"  the  Catholics :  why,  I  am  a  Catholic  myself;  and  if 
"  he  be  sincerely  our  friend,  let  him  vote  for  me,  and 
"  raise  before  the  British  empire  the  Catholic  question  in 
"  my  humble  person,  in  the  way  most  propitious  to  my 
"  final  success.  But  no,  fellow-countrymen,  no ;  he  will 
"  make  no  sacrifice  to  that  cause ;  he  will  call  himself 
"  your  friend,  and  act  the  part  of  your  worst  and  most 
"  unrelenting  enemy." 

After  a  short  but  animated  canvass,  and  six  days'  poll- 
ing, in  which  O'Connell  was  sustained  by  the  clergy,  and 


i  \ 


333 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


his  brilliant  staflT,  Shiel,  Lawless,  Ronayne,  Father  JVla- 
guire,  O' Gorman  Mahon,  and  Steele,  the  contest  ended. 
O'Connell  was  declared  duly  elected,  and  returned  to 
Dublin,  through  a  perfect  ovation.* 

The  remainder  of  the  year  was  the  very  agony  of 
expectation  to  all  parties.  The  ultra- Protestants  formed 
their  Brunswick  clubs,  to  oppose  the  liberal  clubs,  de- 
vised by  Mr.  Wyse,  and  adopted  by  the  Catholics.  The 
"  liberal  Protestants,"  with  the  Duke  of  Leinster  at  their 
head,  sent  forward  a  powerful  declaration  in  favor  of 
emancipation.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  gruffly  ac- 
knowledged "the  tin  case,"  without  saying  a  word  of 
its  contents ;  but  notes  from  him  and  the  Lord  Lieuten- 
ant, (Anglesea,)  both  holding  out  fair  promises,  were 
addressed  to  Primate  Curtis,  and  found  their  way  to 
the  public.  The  Orangemen  and  Catholics,  on  the 
Ulster  border,  were  in  the  highest  excitement,  and  civil 


•  "  The  election,"  says  an  eye- witness,  ••  was  the  most  orderly  ever  con- 
tested in  Ireland :  the  Catholic  leaders  and  the  priests  exerted  themselves 
successfully  to  keep  the  people  quiet ;  they  forbade  them  to  touch  spirit- 
uous liquors,  and,  though  Father  Mathew  had  not  yet  appeared,  not  a 
single  glass  of  whiskey  was  tasted  by  any  of  the  peasantry  during  the 
election.  Some  strange  events  occurred :  Sir  Edward  O'Brien  assembled 
his  tenants  in  a  body,  to  march  to  the  hustings  and  vote  for  Fitzgerald  ; 
Father  Murphy,  of  Corofin,  met  them,  harangued  them,  and,  placing 
himself  at  their  head,  led  them  into  Ennis,  and  polled  them,  to  a  man, 
for  O'Connell.  Father  Tom  Maguire  did  the  same  with  the  tenants  of 
Mr.  Augustine  Butler.  One  evening,  at  the  close  of  the  poll,  while  the 
crowd  waited  to  hear  the  number  announced,  a  Catholic  priest,  realizing 
in  his  appearance  Sir  Walter  Scott's  description  of  Habakkuk  Muckle- 
wrath,  ascended  the  hustings,  and  in  a  sepulchral  voice  announced  that 
a  Catholic  had  that  day  voted  for  Fitzgerald.  Groans,  and  cries  of 
*  Shame  ! '  burst  from  the  crowd.  *  Silence,'  said  the  priest ;  *  the  hand 
of  Ood  has  struck  him ;  he  has  just  died  of  apoplexy.  Pray  for  his 
soul.'  The  whole  multitude  knelt  down,  and  a  prayer  was  muttered  iu 
sobs  and  tears.  The  announcement  was  correct ;  the  wretched  man  was 
so  affected  by  \  ,ving  voted,  as  he  believed,  against  his  conscience  and  his 
country,  that  he  sunk  under  the  feeling.  On  the  6th  day  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
resigned  the  contest,  and  O'Connell  was  returned. 

<*The  consequences  of  this  victory  were  momentous :  aggregate  meet- 
ings were  held  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  at  which  many,  both  of 
the  Protestant  and  Catholic  aristocracy,  attended,  and  took  the  pledges 
dictated  by  the  Catholic  Association.  The  peasant  factions,  which  used 
to  meet  for  battle  on  every  holiday  and  every  fair,  met,  under  the  gui- 
dance of  the  agitators,  to  forswear  their  feuds,  and  join  hands  in  amity. 
The  tranquillity  of  Ireland  was  terrible." 


1 1 


w 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


333 


war  was  seriously  apprehended.  General  Thornton 
wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington  that  he  could  not  an- 
swer for  the  loyalty  of  the  troops  in  the  north,  while  at 
Limericlc  and  other  garrisons  the  Catholic  and  Protest- 
ant soldiers  had  more  than  once  come  to  blows,  in  debat- 
ing the  merits  of  the  agitation.  After  long  and  humili- 
ating deliberations,  the  government  resolved  to  introduce 
a  relief  bill,  without  a  veto,  or  a  provision  for  pensioning 
the  Irish  clergy.  The  influence  of  the  Marchioness  of 
Conyngham,  who  succeeded  her  of  Hertford  as  the 
king's  mistress,  was  said  to  have  been  used  to  secure  the 
consent  of  George  IV. 

At  the  opening  of  the  session  0*Connell  proceeded  to 
London,  and  being  presented  with  the  oaths  by  the 
clerk  of  the  house,  he  refused  to  be  sworn.  "  Because,** 
said  he,  "  there  is  one  part  of  them  which  I  do  not  be- 
lieve to  be  true,  and  there  is  another  which  I  know  to  be 
false."  After  a  lengthy  discussion,  he  was  heard  at  the 
bar  of  the  house,  for  three  hours,  in  his  own  cause ;  his 
counsel,  Pollock,  Phillips,  and  Lynch,  were  also  heard  at 
length  before  a  committee  of  the  house.  Evidently,  he 
had  a  clear  title  to  sit ;  bu*^^  while  the  committee  of  inquiry 
was  still  debating  it,  the  "  emancipation  bill "  passed,  so 
worded  as  to  include  only  Catholics  thereafter  elected. 
This  was  at  George  IV.'s  special  desire,  and  was  aimed 
directly  and  exclusively  at  O' Council. 

In  opening  the  session  of  1829,  the  king  recommended 
Parliament  "to  take  into  deliberate  consideration  the 
whole  condition  of  Ireland ;  review  the  laws  which  im- 
pose civil  disabilities  on  his  majesty's  Roman  Catholic 
subjects ;  and  consider  whether  those  disabilities  can  be 
aft'ected  consistently  with  the  full  and  permanent  security 
of  the  establishments  in  church  and  state,  with  the 
maintenance  of  the  reformed  religion  established  by  law, 
and  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  bishops  and  clergy 
of  the  realm,  and  of  the  churches  committed  to  their 
charge."  On  the  same  day,  (the  5th  of  March,)  a  bill 
suppressing  the  Catholic  association  passed  both  houses, 
and  received  the  royal  assent  But  the  association  had 
anticipated  it  by  dissolving  a  few  days  previously     Mr. 


384 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  THE 


Peel  next  moved  a  committee  of  the  whole  house,  to  go  into 
a'**  consideration  of  the  civil  disabilities  of  his  majesty's 
Roman  Catholic  subjects/'  This  motion,  after  a  two 
days'  debate,  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  188.  On  the 
10th  of  March,  the  bill  was  read  for  the  first  time,  and 
passed  without  opposition,  such  being  the  arrangement 
entered  into  while  in  committee.  But  even  in  five  days, 
the  ancient  bieotry  of  the  land  had  been  aroused ;  nine 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  petitions  had  already  been  pre- 
sented against  it:  that  from  the  city  of  iJondon  was 
signed  by  more  than  "  a  hundred  thousand  freeholders."  * 
On  the  i7th  it  passed  to  a  second  reading,  and  on  the 
30th  to  a  third,  with  large  majorities  in  each  stage  of 
debate.  Out  of  320  members  who  voted  on  the  final 
reading,  178  were  in  its  favor.  On  the  31st  of  March  it 
was  carried  to  the  Lords  by  Mr.  Peel,  and  instantly  read^ 
a  first  time ;  and  two  days  later,  (on  the  2d  of  April,)  it 
was  read  a  second  time,  on  motion  of  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington: a  bitterly  contested  debatb  of  three  days  fol- 
lowed. On  the  10th,  it  was  read  a  third  time,  and  passed 
by  a  majority  of  104. 

On  the  13th  of  April  the  bill  received  the  royal  assent. 
It  was  hailed  in  Ireland  with  acclamations,  but  the  merit 
of  it  was  chiefly  given  to  the  association  founded  in 
1823,  and  conducted  with  so  much  energy  during  six 
years  by  O'Connell  and  his  coadjutors. 

By  this  bill,  both  houses  of  Parliament  and  all  judicial 
offices  were  thrown  open  to  Catholics  —  the  power  of 
altering,  or  making,  and  of  administering  laws.  The 
bill  of  1778  had  recognized  the  right  of  Catholics  to 
possess  property;  the  bill  of  1793  had  given  them  the 
franchise  and  partial  freedom  of  instruction ;  the  bill  of 
1829  gave  them  legislative  and  judicial  power.  The 
freedom  of  the  municipalities,  the  commutation  of  tithes, 
and  the  abolition  of  the  proselytizing  schools,  followed 
the  admission  of  the  Catholics  into  the  next  ensuing 
Parliamentf 

•  Rev.  G.  Croly's  Life  of  George  IV. 

t  In  August,  1832,  was  first  proposed  Mr.  Stanley's   commutation 
tithe  act,  which  reduced  and  reformed  the  impost,  and  became  law  in 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRBLANI>. 


335 


Bat  this  emancipation  was  still  imperfect;  it  did  not 
legalize  the  religions  orders;  it  expressly  ^-^rbade  the 
bishops  taking  the  tithes  of  their  sees,  and  it  .  .tS  accom- 
panied by  another  act,  disfranchising  the  **  forty  shilling 
freeholders,"  and  limiting  the  qualincation  for  voters  in 
Ireland  to  twelve  pound  holdings.  It  was  a  victory,  but 
It  had  its  cost 

It  also  expressly  excluded  O'Connell,  who,  however, 
was  soon  reelected,  and  on  the  first  day  of  the  session  of  .. 
1830,  took  his  seat  in  the  house.  Excepting  King 
James's  Parliament,  he  was  the  first  Catholic  for  above 
two  centuries  who  had  been  permitted  to  exercise  the 
functions  of  a  legislator  at  Westminster.  The  death  of 
George  IV.,  in  1830,  occasioned  a  general  election ;  and 
Shiel,  Wyse,  O'Dwyer,  Lawless,  Ronayne,  and  above 
forty  other  emancipators,  followed  their  chief  into  the 
councils  of  the  empire.  Of  their  course  of  conduct  there 
we  leave  others  to  speak.  Our  present  narrative  does  not 
extend  to  ttie  recent  records  of  the  imperial  Parliament 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1830,  the  Protestant  establish- 
ment, after  three  centuries  of  such  warfare  as  we  have 
witnessed,  stood  humbled,  and  conscious  of  defeat,  be- 
fore the  unconquered  faith  of  the  Irish  nation.  Wonder- 
ful result  of  God's  grace,  aiding  and  sustaining  a  weak 
people !  Lesson  of  lessons  to  the  pride  and  ambition  of 
heresy  backed  by  temporal  power! 

In  1830,  the  Catholics  in  Ireland  were  over  six  million 
souls,*  having  twenty-six  bishops  and  nearly  three  thou- 
sand priests.  Their  national  college  was  overcrowded 
with  pupils  free  to  come  and  go.  Every  diocese  had  its 
seminary,  and  more  than  half  the  parishes  had  good 

Noveipber,  1834.  The  parsons  were  terribly  annoyed  by  the  new  com- 
mutation act ;  they  announced  their  miseries,  and  proclaimed  aloud  their 
starving  condition ;  nay,  so  far  did  they  carry  this  beggar's  opera  or  farce, 
that  they  actually  petitioned  the  treasury  for  a  loan  of  one  million 
pounds  sterling,  to  save  them  from  utter  destitution. —  O'Connell  attd 
hi$  Friends. 

*  By  the  census  of  1834,  the  exact  numbers  are  —  Roman  Catholics, 
six  million  two  hundred  and  eighty-seven  thousand ;  Protestants  of  the 
eistablished  church,  eight  hundred  and  fifty-two  thousand ;  Presbyterians, 
six  hundred  and  forty-two  thousand ;  making  in  all  nearly  eight  millioiis 
of  souls. 


836 


ATTEMPTS   TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


w 


s 


schools.*  They  had  repurchased  a  third  of  the  real  prop- 
erty of  the  ccnntryf  and  were  growing  on  the  sectarian 
proprietary ;  they  stood  equal  to  the  favored  disciples  of 
the  state,  in  law,  physic,  and  human  learning.  They 
were  represented  at  the  press,  on  the  bench,  and  in  Par- 
liament As  the  mass  cave  and  the  stone  altar  gave 
way  to  barn  ohapeU,  so  these,  in  turn,  disappeared  in  the 
shadows  cf  new  and  stately  imitations  of  the  old  temples 
of  the  island. 

Abroad,  the  terms  Irishman  and  Catholic  were  synon- 
ymous. An  Irish  Protestant  was  looked  on  as  a  rare 
man,  a  curiosity,  a  contradiction,  a  paradox. 

The  Anglicans  in  Ireland,  at  the  same  period,  were 
about  three  quarters  of  a  millio*^ — the  Presbyterians  a 
little  over  half.  Taken  together,  they  were  to  the  (Cath- 
olics rather  less  than  one  in  seven.  Such  was  thi^  ^nal 
result,  after  all  the  wars,  confiscations,  famine;^,  proscrip- 
tions, penalties,  executions,  endowments,  and  prodelyi;ism 
which  we  have  traced  through  the  reigns  of  twelve  Prot- 
estant sovereigns. 

At  the  close  of  its  third  century.  Protestantism  in  Ire- 
land, though  stripped  of  its  early  supremacy,  was  still  rich 
in  mere  revenues.  "  It  is  on  recora,"  sav^  au  intelligent 
author,  "that  three  bishops,  in  fifteen  years,  left  seven 
hundred  thousand  pounds  to  their  fa.nilies.  A  bis!<op 
of  Clogher  went  to  Ireland  without  a  shilling,,  and  afi/^r 
eight  years  died  worth  four  hundred  thousand  poundiu 
The  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  who  died  in  18?6,  left  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand  pounds  to  his  children." 

•  ••••• 

"  By  the  probates  at  Doctors'  Commons,  it  appeared, 
in  1828,  that  the  personal  property  of  twenty-four  bish- 

*  At  a  meeting  in  Leitrim  in  1826,  Father  Maguire  said,  "There 
vrexe  ftve  schools  in  my  parish,  under  the  plan  of  the  Hibernian  School 
Society.  I  warned  the  people  not  to  send  their  children  to  them,  and  at 
the  same  time  set  a  subscription  on  foot,  by  collecting  a  penny  a  week 
from  some,  and  a  halfpenny  a  week  from  others,  and  paymg  five  guin- 
eas a  year  myself.  I  was  able  to  establish  eight  schools  in  their  stead. 
They  are  now  open  to  public  inspection,  and  1  would  venture  to  say,  that 
the  children  improve  faster  and  make  a  greater  progress  in  learning  than 
sny  of  those  in  the  Hibernian  schools. " 


PROTESTANT  RKFORMATION  IN  IRK. 


>th 


m 


op'J,  who  had  died  within  the  preceding  twenty  years, 
amounted  to  the  enormous  sum  of  oile  million  six  hun- 
dred and  forty-nine  thousand  pounds  —  an  average  of 
nearly  seventy  thousand  pounas  for  each  bishop.  This 
was  the  sworn  value  of  the  personal  property  only,  and 
some  of  the  bishops  are  known  to  have  had  very  larger 
possessions  in  real  property.  ""''       It. 

**  Nor  have  they  been  at  all  particular  as  to  th^  mode 
of  amassing  their  wealth.  The  Earl  of  'Bristol,  when 
Bishop  of  Derry,  realized  four  thousand  pounds  a  year, 
by  the  ingenious  practice  of  buying  up  old  church  leases, 
holden  under  himself,  and  granting  new  ones  for  fines, 
of  course,  considerably  larger  than  the  sums  he  thus 
paid."  • 


*  Book  of  the  Poor  Man's  Churoli.  From  another  English  publica- 
Mon,  we  select  a  few  figures  in  relation  to  the  same  period  of  time. 

*•  Mr.  Qrattan,  on  the  12th  of  July,  1842,  produced  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  in  a  debate  touching  this  subject,  the  following  extracts  from 
the  probate  of  wills  in  Ireland  for  some  years  previous.    It  appears  that 

I'bwler,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  left,  at  hia  death,      .    £150,000 


Beresford,  Archbishop  of  Tuam, 
Agar,  -tjurohbiiibflp  of  Oashel. 
Stopford,  Bishop  d#  Cork, 
Percy,  Bishop  of  Drontore, 
Clearer.  Bishop  of  Ferns, 
Bernard,  Bishop  of  Limerick* 
Porter,  Bishop  of  Clogher,    . 
Hawkins,  of  Kaphoe, 
Knox,  of  Killaloe, 


250,000 

400,000 

25,000 

40,000 

50,000 

60,000 

250,000 

250,000 

100,000 


Total,       ...        .        .  £1,675,000" 
From  the  publication  already  quoted  we  select  the  following  statistics^ 
In  proof  of  the  rapacity  of  the  Anglo-Irish  church :  — 

**  There  are  benefices  in  the  Irish  Church,      .  .        .      1,55Q    . 

One  of  which  (in  the  county  of  Down)  is  worth  per  an.,  £2,800 
Ten  between £2,000  and  2,600 


Twenty,       .        .                .        .  .        •       lf500 

«  Twenty-three,          .        .        .        .  .        .1,200 

Forty-eight,          .        .        .        .  .        .       1,000 

Seventy-four, '  .        .800 


One  hundred  and  forty-eight. 
Four  hundred  and  eighty-one. 
Three  hundred  and  eighty-six. 
Four  hundred  and  sixty-five,  . 
Number  of  acres,  .        i 


600 

400 

300 

80 


2,000 

1,500 

1,200 

1,000 

800 

'        600 

'       400 

200 

669,267 


"If  we  estimate  the  acres,"  continues  our  authority, "  at  £1  per  acre,  it 

29 


338 


ATTEMPTS    TO    ESTABLISH    THE 


.:iii- 


The  college  and  bishops'  lands  granted  in  the  old  con- 
fiscations were  another  source  of  ecclesiastical  revenuci 
valued  at  some  hundreds  of  thousands  per  annum. 

Of  the  internal  arrangement  of  the  Irish  church  Dr. 
Doyle  gave,  in  1825,  the  following  answers  to  the  com- 
mittee of  Parliament :  — 

"  What  are  the  different  degrees  in  the  Roman  Cath- 
"  olic  church  in  Ireland? — The  degrees  are,  an  arch- 
"  bishop,  a  bishop,  and  where  there  is  a  chapter,  it  consists 
"  of  a  dean  with  some  other  dignitaries  and  prebends. 

"  What  other  kind  of  dignitaries  ?  —  Chancellors,  pre- 
"  centers,  and  so  forth ;  the  same  dignitaries  precisely  as 
"  those  of  the  chapters  of  the  establishment.  Next  come 
"  the  parish  priests,  and  then  their  curates.  Besides 
"  those,  each  bishop  has  one  or  two  vicars  general,  and 
"  also  as  many  rural  deans  as  the  necessity  or  extent  of 
"  the  diocese  may  seem  to  him  to  require.  i«^ 

"  Have  you  any  idea  of  the  actual  number  of  parish 
"  priests,  and  coadjutors  in  Ireland? — I  believe  thenurn- 
"  ber  of  parish  priests  is  about  one  thousand,  and,  at  an 
"  average,  I  should  suppose  that  each  of  them  has  a 
*<  coadjutor :  in  some  parishes  the  parish  priest  has  no 
"  coadjutor;  in  others  the  parish  priest  may  have  two. 

"  Are  not  the  parishes  in  the  Roman  Catholic  church, 
"  generally  speaking,  the  same  as  those  in  the  Protes- 


■will  yield  £660,257  for  the  bishops'  lands  alone.  There  are  also  13,603,473 
acres  of  land  subject  to  tithe,  all  of  which  is  a  grievous  tax  upon  the 
poor,  either  in  the  shape  of  rent  ch^Tges  or  otherwise. 

"  The  report  of  the  commissioners  states  that  in  Ireland  there  are  one 
hundred  and  fifty-one  parishes  having  no  member  of  the  church  of  England, 
and  eight  hundred  and  sixty  parishes  having  less  than  seventy-seven 
Protestants. 

"  Parliamentary  grants  since  the  Union  in  1800,  in  Ireland :  — 


For  building  Protestant  churches, 

For  building  glebe  houses, 

For  Protestant  charity  schools,     . 

For  Church  Society  to  discountenance  vice, 

For  Kildare  Place  Society,   .        . 


£625,371 
336,889 

1,105,867 
101,991 
170,502 


Total, 


.      .         .    £2,240,620" 
The  Black  Book/or  1844. 


PROTESTANT  UEFORMATION  IN  IRELAND. 


339 


wiiir 


"  tant?-^  I  might  say  generally  so,  but  not  universally, 
"  by  any  means. 

"  Are  there  various  unions  of  parishes  in  the  Catholic 
"  church? — Yes. 


..m 


"  You  mentioned  that  in  filling  up  vacancies  in  par- 
"  ishes,  the  bishops  selected  those  of  their  diocese  whom 
"  they  thought  the  most  deserving :  do  you  mean  to  say 
"  they  never  go  out  of  the  diocese  to  select  ? — They  have 
"  a  power  of  doing  so,  but  I  have  not  known  any  case 
"  wherein  they  have  exercised  that  power.  I  should  not 
"  consider  myself  at  liberty  to  go  out  of  the  diocese 
"  where  I  live,  because  the  clergymen  officiating  within 
"  the  diocese  consider,  and  I  also  consider,  that  they 
"  have  a  right  to  such  livings  as  may  happen  to  become 
^'  vacant;  so  that  to  bring  in  a  stranger,  and  exclude 
"  them,  would,  in  my  mind,  be  unjust. 

"  Is  there  a  chapter  in  your  diocese  ?  —  There  is  no 
"  chapter  in  my  diocese. 

"  Are  there  chapters  in  many  of  the  Catholic  dioceses  ? 
"  —  There  are. 

"  Does  the  bishop  name  to  the  offices  in  the  chapter  ? 
"  —  To  all  offices  except  to  that  of  dean. 

"  "Who  names  to  that  of  dean  ?  —  The  pope  appoints 
"  to  the  office  of  dean."  * 

In  the  same  e^dence  he  explained  how  the  parish 
priests  elected  three  candidates  for  each  vacant  bishopric, 
from  whom  the  pope  habitually  selected  one  to  fill  the 
office.  He  also  stated  that  the  average  income  of  the 
parish  priests,  from  voluntary  subscriptions,  was  about 
three  hundred  pounds  per  year ;  which,  in  the  aggregate, 
would  be  less  than  one  fifth  of  the  income  of  the  estab- 
lishment. The  same  ^proportion  holds  as  to  means  of 
education :  Trinity  College  receives  from  public  sources 
tenfold  the  income  of  Maynooth. 

The  amount  of  special  Parliamentary  grants  for  church 
building,  repairing,  and  other  purposes,  is  almost  incal- 
culable.    During  the  last  forty  years,  the  dioceses  of 

*  At  the  census  of  1841,  there  -were  in  Ireland  2361  priests,  138  cou- 
vccts,  including  the  four  orders,  and  13  colleges. 


■%- 


m 


■-*«- 


^ 


340  ATTEMPTS   TO   ESTABLISH   THE 

Tuam  and  Killala  alone  have  received  above  seven 
million  dollars  of  public  money,  for  the  spiritual  guardian- 
ship  of  whom  there  is  "  church  accommodation"  only  for 
seven  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty  souls.* 

No  figures  of  arithmetic  or  of  speech  can  express  this 
contrast  between  Catholicity  and  Protestantism  in  Ire- 
land. The  one  was  stripped  naked,  scourged,  crowned 
with  thorns,  crucified  —  the  other  imperial,  clothed  in 
gold  and  jewels,  armed  with  life  and  death  to  the  body, 
victorious  in  battle,  deadly  in  revenge.  Catholicity  de- 
scends into  the  tomb,  to  arise  again  glorified  and  immor- 
tal; while  Protestantism,  like  Herod,  sits  on  its  throne 
in  gloomy  grandeur,  powerl^il  to  destroy,  but  incapable 
of  the  conquest  of  a  single  pious  soul.  The  contrast, 
old  as  the  cross,  of  the  church  and  the  world,  in  no 
modern  nation  is  so  boldly  defined  as  in  England  and 
Ireland. 

The  martyr  age  of  the  Irish  church  has  come  upon  it 
the  last.  Its  first  centuries  were  illumined  with  a  mul- 
titude of  mild  lights,  burning  in  an  atmosphere  of  peace. 
The  doctors  preceded  the  martyrs.  Now,  not  alone  the 
foundations,  but  the  finished  edifice,  in  every  part,  has 
been  soaked  and  cemented  with  the  blood  of  devoted 


*  See  A  Letter  to  the  Hon.  A.  Einnaird,  Treasurer  of  the  Mary-le-bone 
and  Faddington  Auxiliary  Society  for  Church  Missions,  to  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  Ireland.  By  William  Shee,  Esq.,  Serjeant-at-Law.  Bums 
&  Lambert,  1852.  This  Letter  contains  much  curious  and  valuable 
statistical  information  on  the  Anglican  establishment  in  Ireland. 

In  his  speech  on  the  Maynooth  grant,  in  the  session  of  1852,  Mr. 
Vicent  Scully,  M.  P.  for  Cork,  adduced  the  following  facts,  which  were 
not  disputed :  «*  The  church  titles  of  Ireland  weie  stated  by  Mr.  Leslie 
Foster  to  be  about  six  hundred  thousand  iy>unds  a  year,  and  the  lands 
belonging  to  the  bishops  of  Ireland  to  about  nine  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  thousand  pounds,  independent  of  other  church  lands.  So  that  all 
the  landed  property  connected  with  the  Irish  church  establishment,  in- 
cluding its  college  lands,  are  at  least  a  million  of  acres.  The  entire  reve- 
nue, direct  and  indirect,  of  the  established  church  in  Ireland,  cannot 
be  estimated  much  under  two  millions  a  year ;  and  if  you  add  to  this 
enormous  sum  rather  more  than  a  million  a  year  for  the  cost  of  maintain- 
ing an  extra  force  of  police  and  military,  it  will  be  seen  that  you  require 
for  the  support  of  the  established  church  in  Ireland  a  sum  of  not  less, 
in  round  numbers,  than  three  millions  a  year,  in  order  to  provide  spirit- 
ual food  for  the  six  hundred  tho\ji^d  of  the  comparatively  rich  Protes- 
tants of  Ireland."    *         *>f '}^'^ ' 


^■ 


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m- 


seven 
irdian* 
nly  for 

iss  this 
in  Ire- 
owned 
hed  in 

body, 
ity  de- 
mmor- 
throne 
apable 
>ntrast, 

in  no 
id  and 

ipon  it 
a  mul- 
peace. 
)ne  the 
irt,  has 
evoted 


le-bone 

;  Boman 

Bums 

valuable 

852,  Mr;' 
ich  were 
r.  Leslie 
10  lands 
ninety- 
>  that  all 
nent,  in- 
ire  revo- 
cannot 
to  this 
aaintain- 
i  require 
not  less, 
le  spirit- 
i  Protes-  • 


.w 


,*-■>-.  ^ 


•   #;■ 


PROTESTANT    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND. 


a. 


341 


priests  and  laymen.  From  side  to  side,  the  Irish  soil 
bears  the  red  cross  upon  its  bosom,  traced  there  by  the 
perpetual  sacrifice  of  life  which  has  followed  all  the  vain 
attempts  to  establish  the  reformation.   » 

That  good  God,  who  denied  our  fatherland  domestic 
peace,  has  consecrated  her  to  a  holy  war,  glorious,  though 
sorrowful.  Our  Lord  has  suffered;  the  saints  have 
suffered ;  Ireland  has  suffered.  If  nations  could  be  can- 
onized, she  might  well  claim  the  institution  of  the 
process. 

O  reader,  whose  eyes  are  on  this  page,  if,  haply,  you 
are  of  the  race  that  has  suffered  most  for  God,  I  beseech 
you,  as  a  true  friend,  reflect  well  on  your  own  concerns. 
Where  do  you  stand?  What  do  you  seek?  Riches, 
success,  and  worldly  honors  were  with  the  Elizabeths, 
Cromwells,  and  Williams,  whom  your  fathers  so  stoutly 
opposed.  The  Persecutor  and  the  Puritan  are  gone.  Your 
Catholic  ancestors  are  also  dead.  With  which  of  these 
do  you  desire  your  soul  may  be  everlastingly  ?  If  with 
your  fathers,  then  be  like  your  fathers  —  firm  in  the 
faith,  even  unto  death.  So  may  your  souls  hasten  to 
rejoin  their  souls,  where  "the  wicked  cease  from  trou- 
bling and  the  weary  are  at  rest." 

29*  "A-  .     .-v^^ '■■.-. 


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*  ■ , 


APPENDIX. 


■* 


■  4t- 


NO.  L  - 

THE    CIVIL  AND    MILITARY   ARTICLES   OF 

LIMERICK. 

Exactly  printed  from  the  Letters  Patents ;  wherein  they  are 
ratified  and  exemplified  by  tkeir  Majesties^  under  ike 
Great  Seal  of  England. 

GuLiELMXTs  et  Maria,  Dei  gratia  Angliee,  Scotise,  Franciee,  et 
Hibernise  Rex  et  Regina,  Fidei  Defensores,  &c.  Omnibus  ad  quoa 
priBcentes  literse  nostrse  pervenerint  salatem :  inspeximus  irrotulument 
quarund.  literarum  patentium  de  coniirmatione,  geren.  dat  apud 
Westmonasterium  vicesimo  quarto  die  Februarii,  ultimi  prsateriti  in  can- 
cellar,  nostr.  irrotulat.  ac  ibidem  de  recordo  remanen.  in  hiec  verba. 
William  and  Mary,  by  the  grace  of  God,  &c.  To  all  to  whom  these  pres- 
ents shall  come,  greeting.  Whereas  certain  articles,  bearing  date  the 
third  day  of  October  last  past,  made  and  agreed  on  between  our  jus- 
tices of  our  kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  our  general  of  our  forces  there  on 
the  one  part ;  and  several  officers  there,  commanding  within  the  city  of 
Limerick,  in  our  said  kingdom,  on  the  other  part.  Whereby  our  said 
justices  and  general  did  undertake  that  we  should  ratify  those  articles, 
within  the  space  of  eight  months,  or  sooner ;  and  use  their  utmost  en- 
deavors that  the  same  should  be  ratified  and  confirmed  in  Parliament 
The  tenor  of  which  said  articles  is  a^follows,  viz :  — 


ARTICLES 

Agreed  upon  the  third  day  of  October,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 

ninety-one, 

Between  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Charles  Porter,  Knight,  and  Thomas 
Coningsby,  Esq.,  Lords  Justices  of  Ireland  ;  and  his  Excellency  the 
Baron  de  Ginckle,  Lieutenant  General,  and  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  English  Army,  on  the  one  part : 

And  the  Right  Honorable  Patrick  Earl  of  Lucan,  Piercy,  Viscount  Gall- 
moy,  Colonel  Nicholas  Purcel,  Colonel  Nicholas  Cusack,  Sir  Toby 


*!' 


■*■ 


344 


APPENDIX. 


X 


Butler,  Colonel  Garret  Dillon,  and  Colonel  John  Brown,  on  the  other 
part: 

\n  the  behalf  of  the  Irish  inhabitants  in  the  City  and  County  of  Lim- 
erick, the  counties  of  Clare,  Kerry,  Cork,  Sligo,  and  Mayo.  ^^ 

In  consideration  of  the  Surrender  of  the  City  of  Limerick,  and  other 
Agreements  made  between  the  said  Lieutenant  General  Ginckle,  the 
Governor  of  the  City  of  Limerick,  and  the  Generals  of  the  Irish 
army,  bearing  date  with  these  Presents,  for  the  Surrender  of  the 
City,  and  Submission  of  the  said  Army :  it  is  agreed,  that, 

I.  The  Roman  Catholics  of  this  kingdom  shall  enjoy  such  privi- 
leges in  the  exercise  of  their  religion,  as  are  consistent  with  the  laws  of 
Ireland ;  or  as  they  did  enjoy  in  the  reign  of  King  Charles  the  Second  : 
and  Uieir  majesties,  as  soon  as  their  affairs  will  permit  them  to  summon 
a  Parliament  in  this  kingdom,  will  endeavor  to  procure  the  said  Roman 
Catholics  such  further  security  in  that  particular,  as  mmj  preserve  them 
from  any  ditturbance  upon  tJie  account  of  (heir  said  religion. 

II.  AH  the  inhabitants  or  residents  of  Limerick,  or  any  other  garri- 
son now  in  the  possession  of  the  Irish,  and  all  officers  and  soldiers  now 
in  arms,  under  any  commission  of  King  James,  or  those  authorized  by 
him,  to  grant  the  same  in  the  several  counties  of  Limerick,  Clare,  Kerry, 
Cork,  and  Mayo,  or  any  of  them ;  and  all  the  commissioned  officers  in 
their  majesties'  quarters,  that  belong  to  the  Irish  regiments,  now  in  be- 
ing, that  are  treated  with,  and  wlio  are  not  prisoners  of  war,  or  have 
taken  protection,  and  who  shall  return  and  submit  to  their  majesties' 
obedience ;  and  their  and  every  of  their  heirs,  shall  hold,  possess, 
and  enjoy,  all  and  every  their  estates  of  freehold  and  inheritance  ;  and 
all  tlie  rights,  titles  and  interest,  privileges  and  immunities,  which  they, 
and  every  or  any  of  them  held,  enjoyed,  or  were  rightfully  and  lawfully 
entitled  to  in  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II.,  or  at  any  time  since,  by  the 
laws  and  statutes  that  were  in  force  in  the  said  reign  of  King  Charles 
II.,  and  shall  be  put  in  possession,  by  order  of  the  government,  of  such 
of  them  as  are  in  the  king's  hands,  or  the  Hhnds  of  his  tenants,  with- 
out being  put  to  any  suit  or  trouble  therein ;  and  all  such  estates  shall  . 
be  freed  and  discharged  from  all  arrears  of  crown  rents,  quit  rents, 
and  other  public  charges,  incurred  and  become  due  since  Michaelmas, 
1688,  to  the  day  of  the  date  hereof:  and  all  persons  comprehended  in 
this  article  shall  have,  hold,  and  enjoy  all  their  goods  and  chattels,  real 
and  personal,  to  them,  or  any  of  them  belonging,  and  remaining  either 
in  their  own  hands,  or  in  the  hands  of  any  persons  whatsoever,  in  trust 
for,  or  for  the  use  of  them,  or  any  of  them  :  and  all,  and  every  the  said 
persons,  of  what  profession,  trace  or  calling  soever  they  be,  shall  and 
may  use,  exercise,  and  pia^tioc  their  several  and  respective  profes- 
sions, trades,  and  callings,  as  freely  as  they  did  use,  exercise,  and  enjoy 
the  same  in  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II. :  provided  that  nothing  in  this 
article  contained  be  construed  to  extend  to,  or  restore  any  forfeiting 
person  now  out  of  the  kingdom,  except  Avhat  are  hereafter  comprised  j 
provided  also,  that  no  person  whatsoever  shall  have  or  enjoy  the  "bene- 
fits of  this  article,  that  shall  neglect  or  refuse  to  take  the  oath  of  alle- 


'* 


^_,4 


.M.'' 


4i^' 


•# 


APPENDIX. 


345 


i* 


.'  glance,*  made  by  act  of  Parliament  in  England,  in  the  first  year  of  the 
reiprri  of  their  present  majesties,  when  thereunto  required. 

III.  AH  merchants,  or  reputed  merchants,  of  the  city  of  Limerick, 
^  or  of  any  other  garrison  now  possessed  by  the  Irish,  or  of  any  town  or 

place  in  tlie  counties  of  Clare  or  Kerry,  who  are  absent  beyond  the 
Bcas,  that  have  not  borne  arms  since  their  majesties'  declaration  in 
February,  1()88,  shall  have  the  benefit  of  the  second  article,  in  the  sumo 
manner  as  if  they  were  present ;  provided  such  merchants,  and  reputed 
merchants,  do  repair  into  this  kingdom  within  the  space  of  eight  months 
from  the  date  hereof. 

IV.  The  following  oflficers,  viz.,  Colonel  Simon  Luttorel,  Captain 
i  Rowland  White,  Maurice  Eustace  of  Yermanstown,  Chieveas  of  Mays- 
town,  commonly  called  Mount  Leinster,  now  belonging  to  the  regiments 
in  the  aforesaid  garrisons  and  quarters  of  the  Irish  army,  who  were 

.  beyond  the  seas,  and  sent  thither  upon  affairs  of  their  respective  regi- 
ments, or  the  army  in  general,  shall  have  the  benefit  and  advantage  of 
the  second  article,  provided  they  return  hither  within  the  space  of  eight 
months  from  the  date  of  these  presents,  and  submit  to  their  majesties' 
government,  and  take  the  above-mentioned  oath. 

V.  That  all  and  singular  the  said  persons  comprised  in  the  second 
and  third  articles,  shall  have  a  general  pardon  of  all  attainders,  out- 
lawries, treasons,  misprisions  of  treason,  premunires,  felonies,  trespasses, 
and  other  crimes  and  misdemeanors  whatsoever,  by  them,  or  any  of 
them,  committed  since  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  King  James  II. ; 
and  if  any  of  them  are  attainted  by  Parliament,  the  lords  justices  and 
general  will  use  their  best  endeavors  to  get  the  same  repealed  by  Par- 
liament, and  the  outlawries  to  be  reversed  gratis,  all  but  writing-clerk's 
fees. 

VI.  And  whereas  these  present  wars  have  drawn  on  great  violences 
on  both  parts ;  and  that  if  leave  were  given  to  the  bringing  all  sorts  of 
private  actions,  the  animosities  would  probably  continue  that  have  been 
too  long  on  foot,  and  the  public  disturbances  last :  for  the  quieting  and 
settling  therefore  of  this  kingdom,  a.  1  avoiding  those  inconveniences 
which  would  be  the  necessary  consefj  once  of  the  contrary,  no  person 
or  persons  whatsoever,  comprised  in  le  foregoing  articles,  shall  be 
sued,  molested,  or  impleaded  at  the  sun  of  any  party  or  parties  what- 
soever, for  any  trespasses  by  them  committed,  or  for  any  arms,  horses, 

'  money,  goods,  chattels,  merchandises,  or  provisions  whatsoever,  by  them 
seized  or  taken  during  the  time  of  the  war.  And  no  person  or  persons 
whatsoever,  in  the  second  or  third  articles  comprised,  shall  be  sued,  im- 
pleaded, or  made  accountable  for  tlie  rents  or  mean  rates  of  any  lands, 
tenements,  or  houses,  by  him  or  them  received,  or  enjoyed  in  this  king- 
dom, since  the  beginning  of  the  present  war  to  the  day  of  the  date 
hereof,  nor  for  any  waste  or  trespass  by  him  or  them  committed  in  any 
such  lands,  tenements,  or  houses  ;  and  it  is  also  agreed,  that  this  article 
~     shall  be  mutual  and  reciprocal  on  both  sides. 

*  I,  A.  J3.,  do  sincerely  promise  and  swear,  that  I  will  bo  faithful,  and  bear 
,^     true  allegiunce  to  their  majesties  King  William  and  Queen  Mary.    So  help 
me  God. 


■J^ 


.     :«t^i... 


»■ 


it^y 


346 


APPENDIX. 


•  w 


m- 


,r 


.V.'" 


"VII,  Every  nobleman  and  gentleman  comprised  in  the  said  second 
and  third  articles,  shall  have  liberty  to  ride  with  a  sword  and  case  of 
pistols,  if  they  think  fit ;  and  keep  a  gun  in  their  houses,  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  same,  or  for  fowling. 

VIII.  The  inhabitants  and  residents  in  the  city  of  Limerick,  and 
other  garrisons,  shall  be  permitted  to  remove  their  goods,  chattels,  and 
provisions  out  of  the  same,  without  being  viewed  and  searched,  or  pay- 
ing any  manner  of  duties,  and  shall  not  be  compelled  to  leave  the 
houses  or  lodgings  they  now  have,  for  the  space  of  six  weeks  next  en- 
suing the  date  hereof. 

IX.  The  oath  to  be  administered  to  such  Roman  Catholics  as  sub- 
mit to  their  majesties'  government  shall  be  the  oath  abovesaid,  and  no 
other. 

X.  No  person  or  persons  who  shall  at  any  time  hereafter  break  these 
articles,  or  any  of  them,  shall  thereby  make,  or  cause  any  other  person 
or  persons  to  forfeit  or  lose  the  benefit  of  the  same. 

XI.  The  lords  justices  and  general  do  promise  to  use  their  utmost 
endeavors,  that  all  the  persons  comprehended  in  the  above-mentioned 
articles,  shall  be  protected  and  defended  from  all  arrests  and  execu- 
tions for  debt  or  damage,  for  the  space  of  eight  months  next  ensuing 
the  date  hereof. 

XII.  Lastly.,  the  lords  justices  and  general  do  undertake  that 
their  majesties  will  ratify  these  articles  within  the  space  of  eight 
months,  or  sooner,  and  use  their  utmost  endeavors  that  the  same  shall 
be  ratified  and  confirmed  in  Parliament. 

XIII.  And  whereas  Colonel  John  Brown  stood  indebted  to  several 
Protestants,  by  judgments  of  record,  which  appearing  to  the  late  gov- 
ernment, the  Lord  Tyrconnel  and  Lord  Lucan  took  away  the  effects 
the  said  John  Brown  had  to  answer  the  said  debts,  and  promised  to 
clear  the  said  John  Brown  of  the  said  debts ;  which  eff*ects  were  txiken 
for  the  public  use  of  the  Irish,  and  their  army :  for  freeing  the  said 
Lord  Lucan  of  his  said  engagement,  past  on  their  public  account,  for 
payment  of  the  said  Protestants,  and  for  preventing  the  ruin  of  the  said 
John  Brown,  and  for  satisfaction  of  his  creditors,  at  the  instance  of 
the  Lord  Lucan,  and. the  rest  of  the  persons  aforesaid,  it  is  agreed,  that 
the  said  lords  justices  and  the  said  Baron  De  Ginckle  shall  inter- 
cede with  the  king  and  Parliament  to  have  the  estates  secured  to  Ro- 
man Catholics,  by  articles  and  capitulation  in  this  kingdom,  charged 
with,  and  equally  liable  to  the  payment  of  so  much  of  the  said  debts 
as  the  said  Lord  Lucan,  upon  stating  accounts  with  the  said  John 
Brown,  shall  certify  under  his  hand  that  the  eflfects  taken  from  the  said 
Brown  amount  unto ;  which  account  is  to  be  stated,  and  the  balance 
certified  by  the  said  Lord  Lucan  in  one  and  twenty  days  after  the  date 
hereof.  , 

For  the  true  performance  hereof,  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands : 


Present, 


s'te;n' 


.-. 


SCRAVENMORE, 

H.  Maccay, 
T.  TaiiMash, 


Char.  Porter, 
Thos.  C0NINQ8BT, 
Bar.  De  Ginckle. 


-f 


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< 


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'tVj      ^.S«&^i-&i-^.iu&i^'«t^ 


«"«  J<^.'     ^^^    i    ^^  -"sCk  -, 


4- 


rov- 


^f^ 


■m 


mt' 


APPfiNDtX. 


347 


And  whereas  the  said  city  of  Limerick  hath  been  since,  in  pursuance 
of  the  said  articles,  surrendered  unto  us.  Now  know  ye,  that  we,  hav** 
ing  considered  of  the  said  articles,  are  graciously  pleased  hereby  to 
declare,  ttuU  ive  do  for  us,  our  heirs,  and  successors,  as  far  as  in  us  /ie*, 
ratify  and  confirm  the  same,  and  every  clause,  matter,  and  thing  therein 
contained.  And  as  to  such  parts  thereof,  for  which  an  act  of  Parliament 
shall  be  found  to  be  necessary,  we  shall  recommend  the  same  to  be 
made  good  by  Parliament,  and  shall  give  our  royal  assent  to  any  bill  or 
bills  that  shall  be  pcflsed  by  our  two  houses  of  Parliament  to  that  pur- 
pose. And  whereas  it  appears  unto  us,  that  it  was  a^eed  between  the 
parties  to  the  said  articles,  that  after  the  words  Limerick,  Clare,  Kerry^ 
Cork,  Mayo,  or  any  of  them,  in  the  second  of  the  said  articles,  the 
words  following,  viz.,  "  And  all  such  as  are  under  their  protection  in 
the  said  counties,"  should  be  inserted,  and  be  part  of  the  said  article8» 
Which  words  having  been  casually  omitted  by  the  writer,  the  omission 
was  not  discovered  till  after  the  said  articles  were  signed,  out  was  taken 
notice  of  before  the  second  town  was  surrendered :  and  that  our  said 
justices  and  general,  or  one  of  them,  did  promise  that  the  said  clause 
should  be  made  good,  it  being  within  the  intention  of  the  capitulation, 
and  inserted  in  the  foul  draft  thereof.  Our  further  will  and  pleasure  is, 
and  we  do  hereby  ratify  and  confirm  the  said  omitted  words,  yiz.,  "  And 
all  such  as  are  under  their  protection  in  the  said  counties,"  hereby  for 
us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  ordaining  and  declaring,  that  all  and  every 
person  and  persons  therein  concerned,  shall  and  may  have,  receive,  and 
enjoy  the  benefit  thereof,  in  such  and  the  same  manner,  as  if  the  said 
words  had  been  inserted  in  their  proper  place,  in  the  said  second  article ) 
any  omission,  defect,  or  mistake  in  the  said  second  article,  in  any  wise 
notwithstanding.  Provided  always,  and  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  that 
these  our  letters  patents  shdl  be  enrolled  in  our  court  of  chancery,  in 
our  said  kingdom  of  Ireland,  within  the  space  of  one  year  noxt  ensuing* 
In  witness,  &c.,  witness  ourself  at  V"estminster,  the  twenty-fourth  day 
of  February,  anno  regni  regis  et  reginse  Guliehni  et  Maris  quarto 
per  breve  de  private  sigillo.  Nos  autem  tenorem  premissor.  predict. 
Ad  requisitionera  attornat.  general,  domini  regis  et  dominse  reginm 
pro  regno  Hiberniee.  Duximus  exemplificand.  per  presentes.  In  cuius 
rei  testimonium  has  literas  nostras  fieri  fecimtis  patentes.  Testibus 
nobis  ipsis  apud  Westmon.  quinto  die  Aprilis,  annoq.  regni  eorum  quarto. 


BRIDGES. 


Examinat.  ^  S.  Keck,  ?  In  Cancel. 

.  per  nos  \  Lac  on  Wm.  Childe.  \  Magistros. 


ntv 


4V, 


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APPENDIX. 
MILITARY  ARTICLES 


I,* 


*^'^  '\' '  ,A 


m 


Aj^eed  upon  between  the  Baron  do  Gincklo,  Lieutennnt  General  and 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  English  Army,  on  the  one  side ; 

And  the  Lieutenant  Generals  De  Ussoon  ana^De  Tesse,  Commanders- 
in-Chief  of  the  Irish  Army,  on  the  other ;  and  the  General  Officers 
hereunto  subscribing. 

I.  That  all  persons,  without  any  exceptions,  of  what  quality  or 
condition  soever,  that  are  willing  to  leave  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  shall 
have  free  liberty  to  goto  any  country  beyond  the  seas,  (England  and 
Scotland  excepted,)  where  they  think  fit,  with  their  families,  household 
stuff,  plate,  and  jewels. 

II.  That  all  general  officers,  colonels,  and  generally  all  other  officers 
of  horse,  dragoons,  and  footgnards,  troopers,  dragooners,  soldiers  of 
all  kinds  that  are  in  anjr  garrison,  place,  or  post,  now  in  the  hands  of 
the  Irish,  or  encamped  in  the  counties  of  Cork,  Clare,  and  Kerry,  as 
also  those  called  Rapparees,  or  volunteers,  that  are  willing  to  go  beyond 
seas  as  aforesaid,  shall  have  free  leave  to  embark  themselves  wherever 
the  ships  are  that  are  appointed  to  transport  them,  and  to  come  in  whole 
bodies  as  they  are  now  composed,  or  in  partios,  companies,  or  otherwise, 
without  having  any  impediment,  directly  or  indirectly. 

III.  That  all  persons  above  mentioned,  that  are  willing  to  leave 
Ireland  and  go  to  France,  shall  have  leave  to  declare  it  at  the  times  and 
places  hereafter  mentioned,  viz.,  the  troops  in  Limerick,  on  Tuesday 
next  in  Limerick,  the  horse  at  their  camp  on  Wednesday,  and  the 
other  forces  that  nre  dispersed  in  the  counties  of  Clare,  Kerry,  and 
Cork,  on  the  8th  instant,  and  on  none  other,  before  Monsieur  Tameron, 
the  French  intendant,  and  Colonel  Withers ;  and  after  such  declaration 
is  made,  the  troops  that  will  go  into  France  mu^t  remain  under  the 
command  and  discipline  of  their  officers  that  are  to  conduct  them 
thither ;  and  deserters  of  each  side  shall  be  given  up,  and  punished  ac- 
cordingly. 

IV.  That  all  English  and  Scotch  officers  that  serve  now  in  Ireland 
.     shall  be  included  in  this  capitulation,  as  well  for  the  security  of  their 

estates  and  goods  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  (if  they  are  willing 
to  remain  here,)  as  for  passing  freely  into  France,  or  any  other  country 
to  serve. 

V.  That  all  the  general  French  officers,-the  intendant,  the  engineers, 
the  commissaries  at  war,  and  of  the  artillery,  the  t-oasurer,  and  other 
French  officers,  strangers,  and  all  others  whatsoever,  that  are  in  Sligo, 
Ross,  Clare,  or  in  the  army,  or  that  do  trade  or  commerce,  or  are  other- 

,  wise  employed  in  any  kind  of  station  or  condition,  shall  have  free 
leave  to  pass  into  France,  or  any  other  country,  and  shall  have  leave 
to  ship  themselves,  with  all  their  horses,  equipage,  plate,  pcpers,  and  all 
their  efiects  whatever ;  and  that  General  Ginckle  will  order  passports 
for  them,  convoys,  and  carriages,  by  land  and  .vater,  to  carry  them  safe 
from  Limerick  to  the  ships  where  they  shall  be  embarked,  without  pay- 


^r 

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'  '  Injf  any  thing  for  tho  said  carriagCB,  or  to  those  that  aro  employed 
therein,  with  their  horses,  cars,  boats,  and  shallops. 

VI,     That  if  any  of  the  aforesaid  equipapfes,  morchandiso,  horses, 

t  money,  plate,  or  other  movables,  or  household  stuff  belonfjinjr  to  tho 

"^  said  Irisn  troops,  or    ^  the  French  officers,  or  other  particuliir  persons 

whatsoever,  bo  robbed,  destroyed,  or  taken  away  by  tho  troops  of  tho 

Baid  general,  tho  said  general  will  order  it  to  be  restored,  or  payinntit 

'  to  be  made  according  to  the  value  that  is  given  in  upon  oath  by  the  pnr- 

4'  son  so  robbed  or  plundered :  and  the  said  Irish  troops  to  bo  trannportod 

■  as  aforesaid ;  ana  all  other  persons  belonging  to  thorn  are  to  observe 
good  order  in  their  march  and  quarters,  and  shall  restore  whatever  tlioy 

'  shall  take  from  tho  country,  or  make  restitution  for  the  same. 

■  VII.  That  to  facilitate  the  transporting  the  said  troops,  tho  general 
will  furnish  fifty  ships,  each  ship's  burden  two  hundred  tons,  for  whicu 

^  the  persons  to  be  transport.ed  shall  not  be  obliged  to  nay;  and  twenty 

^  more,  if  there  shall  be  occasion,  without  their  paying  for  them  :  and  if 

'  ftny  of  the  said  ships  shall  bo  of  leaser  burden,  he  will  furnish  more  in 

number  to  countervail ;  and  also  give  two  men-of-war  to  embark  tho 

[  principal  officers,  and  serve  for  a  convoy  to  tho  vessels  of  burden. 

VIII.    That  a  commissary  shall  be  immediately  sent  to  Cork  to  visit 

"  the  transport  ships,  and  what  condition  they  aro  in  for  sailing ;  and  that, 

as  soon  as  they  are  ready,  the  troops  to  be  transported  shall  march 

with  all  convenient  speed,  the  nearest  way,  in  order  to  embark  there  ; 

•  and  if  there  shall  be  any  more  men  to  be  tvansported  than  can  be  car- 
'  ried  off  in  the  said  fifty  ships,  the  rest  shall  quit  the  P^nglish  town  of 

•  Limerick,  and  march  to  such  quarters  aa  shall  be  appointed  for  them, 
.  convenient  for  their  transportation,  where  they  shall  remain  till  the  other 

twenty  ships  be  ready,  which  are  to  be  in  a  month ;  and  may  embark 
'  on  any  French  ship  that  may  come  in  the  mean  time. 

■  IX.  That  the  said  ships  shall  be  furnished  with  forage  for  horse,  and 
all  necessary  provisions  to  subsist  the  officers,  troops,  dragoons,  and 
soldiers,  and  all  other  persons  that  are  shipped  to  be  transported  into 

, '  France ;  which  provisions  shall  be  paid  for  as  soon  as  all  are  disem- 

•  barked  at  Brest  or  Nantz,  upon  the  coast  of  Brittany,  or  any  other  port 

■  of  France  tliey  can  make. 

X.  And  to  secure  the  return  of  the  said  ships  (the  danger  of  the 

•  seas  excepted)  and  payment  for  the  said  provisions,  sufficient  hostages 
shall  be  givcn. 

XI.  That  the  garrisons  of  Clare  Castle,  Ross,  and  all  other  foot 
that  are  in  garrisons  in  the  counties  of  Clare,  Cork,  and  Kerry,  shall 

'  have  the  advantage  of  this  present  capitulation ;  and  such  part  of  those 

^  garrisons  as  design  to  go  beyond  seas  shall  march  out  with  their  arms, 

baggage,  drums  beating,  ball  in  mouth,  match  lighted  at  bovh  ends,  and 

•  colors  flying,  with  all  the  provisions  and  half  the  ammunition  that  is 
in  the  said  garrisons,  and  join  the  horse  that  march  to  be  transported ; 

~  -  or  if  then  there  is  not  shipping  enough  for  the  body  of  foot  that  is  to  be 
next  transported  after  the  horse,  General  Ginckle  will  order  that  they 

•  be  furnished  with  carriages  for  that  purpose,  and  what  provisions  they 
=  shall  w>^nt  in  their  march,  they  paying  for  the  said  provisions,  or  else 

%^  that  they  may  take  it  out  of  their  own  magazines. 

30 


« 


■  r'ibi.'. 


350 


APPENDIX. 


I 


^m-' 


JW' 


XII.  That  all  tlic  troops  of  horse  and  dragoons  that  are  in  the 
counties  of  Cork,  Kerry,  and  Clare,  shall  also  have  the  benefit  of  this 
capitulation ;  and  that  such  as  will  pass  into  France  shall  have  quarters 
given  them  in  the  counties  of  Clare  and  Kerry,  apart  from  the  troops 
that  are  commanded  by  General  Ginckle,  until  they  can  be  shipped  ; 
and  within  their  quarters  they  shall  pay  for  every  thing,  except  forage 
and  pasture  for  their  horses  "  hich  shall  be  furnished  gratis. 

Xtll.  Those  of  the  garrison  of  Sligo  that  are  joined  to  the  Irish 
army  shall  have  the  benefit  oi  this  capitulation ;  and  orders  shall  be 
sent  to  them  that  are  to  convey  them  up,  to  bring  them  hither  to  Lim- 
erick the  shortest  way. 

XIV.  The  Irish  may  have  liberty  to  transport  nine  hundred  horse, 
including  horses  for  the  officers,  wliich  shall  be  transported  gratis ;  and 
as  for  the  troopers  that  stay  behind,  they  shall  dispose  of  themselves  as 
they  shall  think  fit,  giving  up  their  horses  and  arms  to  such  persons  ast 
the  general  shall  appoint. 

XV.  It  shall  be  permitted  to  those  that  are  appointed  to  take  care 
for  the  subsistence  of  the  horse,  that  are  willing  to  go  into  France,  to 
buy  hay  and  corn  at  the  king's  rates  wherever  they  can  find  it,  in  the 
quarters  that  are  assigned  for  them,  without  any  let  or  molestation,  and 
to  carry  all  necessary  provisions  out  of  the  city  of  Limerick ;  and  for 
this  purpose,  the  general  will  furnish  convenient  carriages  for  them  to 
the  places  where  they  shall  be  embarked. 

XVI.  It  shall  be  lawful  to  make  use  of  the  hay  preserved  in  the 
stores  of  the  county  of  Kerry  for  the  horses  that  shall  be  embarked  ; 
and  if  there  be  not  enoug* ,  it  shall  be  lawful  to  buy  hay  and  oats 
wherever  it  shall  be  found,  a^  the  king's  rates. 

XVII.  That  all  prisoners  of  war,  that  were  in  Ireland  the  28th  of 
September,  shall  be  set  at  liberty  on  both  sides ;  and  the  general  prom- 
ises to  use  his  endeavors,  that  those  that  are  in  England  and  Flanders 
shall  be  set  at  liberty  also. 

XVIII.  The  general  will  cause  provisions  and  medicines  to  be 
furnished  to  the  sick  and  wounded  officers,  troopers,  dragoons,  and  sol- 
diers of  the  Irish  army,  that  cannot  pass  into  France  at  the  first  embark- 
ment ;  and  after  they  are  cured,  will  order  them  ships  to  pass  into 
France,  if  they  are  willing  to  go. 

XIX.  That  at  the  signing  hereof,  the  general  will  send  a  ship  ex* 
press  to  France ;  and  that,  besides,  he  will  furnish  two  small  ships  of 
those  that  are  now  in  the  River  of  Limerick,  to  transport  two  persons 
into  France  that  are  to  be  sent  to  give  notice  of  this  treaty ;  and  that 
the  commanders  of  th'^  said  ships  shall  have  orders  to  put  ashore  at  the 
next  port  of  France  whore  they  shall  make. 

XX.  That  all  those  of  the  said  troops,  officers,  and  others,  of  what 
character  soever,  that  would  pass  into  France,  shall  not  be  stopped  upon 
the  account  of  debt  or  any  other  pretext. 

XXI.  If,  after  signing  this  present  treaty,  and  before  the  arrival  of 
the  fleet,  a  French  packet  boat,  or  other  transport  ship,  shall  arrive  from 
France  in  any  other  part  of  Ireland,  the  general  will  order  a  passport 
not  only  for  such  as  umst  go  on  board  the  said  ships,  but  to  tlie  ships  to 


# 


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■'-'« 


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APPENDIX. 


351 


m 


como  to  tho  nearest  port  to  the  place  where  the  troops  to  bo  transported 
shall  be  quartered. 

XXII.  That  after  the  arrival  of  the  said  fleet  there  shall  be  free 
^^       coinmunicatioq  and  passage  between  it  and  the  quarters  of  tho  above- 

^  said  troops ;  and  espcciiilly  for  all  tliose  that  have  passes  from  tlio 
chief  commanders  of  tho  said  fleet,  or  from  Mons.  Tamoron,  tho  in- 
tcndant. 

XXIII.  In  consideration  of  the  present  capitulation,  the  two  towns 
of  Limerick  shall  be  delivered  and  put  into  the  liiuids  of  tlie  general, 
or  any  other  person  he  shall  appoint,  at  the  time  and  days  hereafter 
specified,  viz.,  the  Irish  town,  except  the  magazines  and  hospital,  on  the 
day  of  the  signing  of  these  present  articles  ;  and  as  for  the  English 
town,  it  shall  remain,  together  with  the  island,  and  the  free  passsge  of 
Thomond  Bridge,  in  the  liands  of  those  of  the  Irish  army  that  are  now 
in  the  garrison,  or  that  shall  hereafter  come  from  the  counties  of  Cork, 
Clare,.Kerry,  Sligo,  and  other  places  above  mentioned,  until  there  shall 
be  convenience  found  for  their  transportation. 

XXIV.  And  to  prevent  all  disorders  that  moy  happen  between  the 
garrison  that  the  general  shall  place  in  the  Irish  town,  which  shall  ^e 
delivered  to  him,  and  the  Irish  troopers  that  shall  remain  in  the  English 
town  and  the  island,  which  they  may  do,  until  the  troops  to  be  em- 
barked on  the  first  fifty  sliips  shall  be  gone  for  France,  and  no  longer, 
they  shall  entrench  themselves  on  both  sides,  to  hinder  the  communi- 
cation of  the  said  garrisons  ;  and  it  shall  be  prohibited  on  both  sides 
'o  offer  any  thing  that  is  offensive ;  and  the  parties  offending  shall  be 
punished  on  either  side. 

XXV.  That  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  said  garrison  to  march  out  all 
^       at  once,  or  at  different  times,  as  they  can  be  embarked,  vnih  arms,  hag- 

^a^e,  drams  heating,  m^itch  lighted  at  both  ends,  hxUlet  in  mouth,  colors 
nymg,  six  brass  guns,  such  as  the  beseiged  loUl  choose,  two  mortar  pieceSj 
and  half  the  ammunition  that  is  now  in  the  magazines  of  the  said  place  ,* 
and  for  this  purpose  an  inventory  of  all  the  ammunition  in  the  garrison 
shall  be  made  in  the  presence  of  any  person  that  the  general  shall  ap- 
point, the  next  day  after  these  present  articles  shall  be  signed. 

XXVI.  All  the  magazines  of  provisions  shall  remain  in  the  hands 
of  those  that  are  now  employed  to  take  care  of  the  same,  for  the  sub- 
sistence of  those  of  the  Irish  army  that  will  pass  into  Prance;  and  if 
there  shall  not  be  sufficient  in  the  stores  for  the  support  of  the  said 
troops  whilst  they  stay  in  this  kingdom  and  are  crossing  the  seas,  that, 
upon  giving  up  an  account  of  their  numbers,  the  general  will  furnish 
them  with  sufficient  provisions  at  the  king's  rates ;  and  that  therfe  shall 
be  a  free  market  at  Limerick,  and  other  quarters,  where  the  t>aid  troops 
shall  be ;  and  in  case  any  provision  shall  remain  in  the  magazines  of 
Limerick  when  the  town  shall  be  given  up,  it  shall  be  valued,  i\nd  the 
price  deducted  out  of  what  is  to  be  paid  for  the  provisions  to  i>e  fur- 
nished to  the  troops  on  shipboard. 

XXVII.  That  there  shall  be  a  cessation  of  arms  at  land,  as  also 
at  sea,  with  respect  to  the  ships,  whether  English,  Dutch,  or  J.^'rench, 
designed  for  the  transportation  of  the  said  troops,  until  they  shall  be 
returned  to  their  respective  harbors,  and  that,  on  both  sides,  they  shall 


>•' 


352 


APPENDIX.     ' 


(  t 


be  furnished  vith  eufficierit  passports  both  for  ships  and  men ;  and  if 
any  sea  commander,  or  captain  of  a  ship,  or  any  officer,  trooper,  dra- 
goon, soldier,  or  any  other  person,  shall  act  contrary  to  this  cessation, 
the  persons  so  acting  shall  bo  punished  on  either  side,  and  satisfaction 
shall  be  made  for  the  wrong  thot  is  done ;  and  officers  shall  bo  sent  to 
the  mouth  of  the  River  of  Limerick  to  give  notice  to  the  comniandors 
of  the  English  and  French  fleets  of  the  present  coi^uncture,  that  they 
may  observe  the  cessation  of  arms  accordingly. 

XXVIII.  That  for  the  security  of  the  execution  of  this  present  ca- 
pitulation, and  of  each  article  therein  contained,  the  beseiged  shall  give 
the  following  hostages        ■     ^  and  the  general  shall  give . 

XXIX.  If  before  this  capitulation  is  fully  executed  there  happens 
any  change  in  the  government,  or  command  of  the  army,  which  is  now 
commanded  by  General  Ginckle,  all  those  that  shall  be  appointed  to 
command  the  same  shall  be  obliged  to  observe  and  execute  what  is 
specified  in  these  articles,  or  cause  it  to  be  executed  punctually,  and 
shall  not  act  contrary  on  any  account. 

BARON  DE  GINCKLE. 
October  19,  n 


♦^;«!- 


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,v 


,'/ 


#. 


353 


■'.^. 


APPENDIX. 


♦   NO.  II. 


THE  IRISH  LORDS'  PROTEST  AGAINST  THE  ACT 

"  TO  CORFIBM  THE  ARTICLES  OF  IJMEBICK,"  A.  D.  1709. 

Resolved  on  tho  question,  that  the  engrossed  bill  sent  up  by  tho 
Commons,  entitled  "  An  Act  for  the  Confirmation  of  Articles  made  at 
the  Surrender  of  the  City  of  Limerick,"  do  pass  into  a  law. 

**  Ordered,  on  motion,  that  such  lords  as  please  may  enter  their  protest 
to  the  last  foregoing  vote,  with  their  reasons. 

'  We,  the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  whose  names  are  hereafter 
subscribed,  do  dissent  from  the  aforesaid  vote,  and  enter  our  protest 
against  the  same,  for  the  reasons  following :  — 

1.  Because  we  think  the  title  of  the  bill  doth  not  a^eo  with  the 
body  thereof,  the  title  being,  "  An  Act  for  the  Confirmation  of  articles 
made  at  the  Surrender  of  the  City  of  Limerick ; "  whereas  no  one  of 
the  said  articles  is  therein,  as  we  conceive,  fully  confirmed. 

2.  Because  the  said  articles  wei  a  to  be  conhrmed  in  favor  of  them 
to  whom  they  were  granted.  But  the  confirmation  of  them  by  the  bill 
is  such,  that  it  puts  them  in  a  worse  condition  than  they  were  before,  as 
we  conceive. 

3.  Because  the  bill  omits  these  material  words  —  "  and  all  such  as 
are  under  their  protection  in  said  counties,"  which  are  by  his  majesty's 
letters  patent  declared  to  be  part  of  the  2d  article,  and  several  persons 
have  been  adjudgnd  within  the  2d  article  by  virtue  of  the  aforemen- 
tioned words  •  1  that  the  words  omitted,  being  so  v  ery  material,  and 
confirmed  b  v  liis  majesty  after  a  solemn  debate,  as  we  are  informed, 
some  ex^»re»8  reasons,  as  we  conceive,  ought  to  have  been  assigned  in 
the  bill,  m  m-der  to  satisfy  the  world  as  to  that  omission. 

4.  Eecavise  several  words  are  inserted  in  the  bill  which  are  not  in 
the  articles ;  and  others  omitted,  which  alter  both  the  sense  and  mean- 
ing of  some  parts  of  tho  articles,  as  we  conceive. 

5.  Because  we  apprehend  that  many  Protestants  may  and  will  suffer 
by  this  bill,  in  their  just  rights  and  pretensions,  by  reason  of  their  hav- 
ing purchased  and  lent  money  upon  the  credit  of  the  said  articles, 
and,  as  we  conceive,  in  several  other  r*    -ect^. 


Londonderry, 
Thomas  Limerick, 
S.  Elphin, 
Howth, 
W.  Killala, 

30 


John  0&«!ory, 

Duncan  non, 

Keny, 

Will.  Clonfert, 

Strabane, 


Tyrone, 

Thomas  Killaloe, 
Will.  Derry, 
Kingston. 


"W^', 


T-*^<' 


\ 


#^      %t' 


354 


'•« 


APPENDIX. 


NO.  III. 


; , 


w 


% 


PETITION  AND   LIST   OF  DELEGATES   OF 
THE   CATHOLICS   OF  IRELAND. 

January  2,  1793  ^ 
Mr.  Byrne,  Mr.  Keogh,  Mr.  Devereux,  Mr.  Bellew,  and  Sir  Thomas 
French,  the  gentlemen  delegated  by  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  attended 
the  levee  at  St.  James's,  and  had  the  honor  to  present  the  humble  peti' 
tion  of  that  body  to  his  majesty,  who  was  pleased  to  receive  it  most 
graciously. 

The  delegates  were  introduced  by  the  Right  Hon.  Henry  Dundas, 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department.  ^ 

The  following  is  a  correct  copy  of  the  petition: — pi' 

To  (he  Kine's  most  excellent  Majesty :  — 

The  humble  petition  of  the  undersigned  Catholics,  on  behalf  of 
themselves  and  the  rest  of  his  Catholic  subjects  of  tlie  kingdom  of 
Ireland. 

Most  Gracious  Sovereiox  :  We,  your  majesty's  most  dutiful  and 
loyal  subjects  of  your  kingdom  of  Ireland,  professing  the  Catholic  re- 
ligion, presume  to  approach  your  majesty,  who  are  the  common  father 
of  all  your  people,  and  humbly  to  submit  to  your  consideration  the 
manifold  incapacities  and  oppressive  disqualmcations  under  which 
we  labor. 

For,  may  it  please  your  majesty,  after  a  century  of  uninterrupted 
loyalty,  in  which  time  five  foreign  wars  and  two  domestic  rebellions 
have  occurred ;  after  having  taken  every  oath  of  allegiance  and  fidelity 
to  your  majesty,  and  given,  and  being  still  ready  to  give,  every  pledge 
which  can  be  devised  for  their  peaceable  demeanor  and  unconditional 
submission  to  the  laws,  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  stand  obnoxious  to  a 
long  catalogue  of  statutes,  inflicting  on  dutiful  and  meritorious  subjects 
pains  and  penalties  of  an  extent  and  severity  which  scarce  any  degree 
of  delinquency  can  warrant,  and  prolonged  to  a  period  when  no  neces- 
sity can  be  alleged  to  justify  their  continuance. 

In  the  first  place,  we  beg  leave,  with  all  humility,  to  represent  to 
your  majesty,  that,  notwithstanding  the  lowest  departments  in  your 
majesty's  fleets  and  armies  are  largely  supplied  by  our  numbers,  and 
your  revenue  in  this  country  to  a  great  degree  supported  by  our  contri- 
Dutions,  we  are  disabled  from  serving  your  majesty  in  any  office  of 
trust  and  emolument  whatsoever,  civil  or  military ;  a  proscription  which 
disregards  capacity  or  merit ;  admits  of  neither  qualification  nor  degree, 
and  rests  as  a  universal  stigma  of  distrust  upon  the  whole  body  of 
your  Catholic  subjects. 

We  are  interdicted  from  all  municipal  stations  and  the  franchise  of 
all  guilds  and  corporations ;  and  our  exclusion  from  the  benefits  an  * 
iiexed  to  those  situations  is  not  an  evil  terminating  in  itself;  for,  by 


...^i 


S.lt'llviLjjl'LL. 


L.^i!&LJiAj.  tMs.'i.i'J^-.. 


^^ 


■•f 


father 

• 

)n  the 

which 

rupted 
bilious 
delity 

\  1  ^>#l  /w^k 

iieuge 
Ltional 
s  to  a 

, 

bjects 
egree 

3nt  to 

I  your 
s,  and 

*P 

-ontri- 

ce  of 
which 

Bgree,      • 
dy  of 

ise  of 
s  an  * 

"or,  by 

.} 

n 


■X* 


"0  %»« 


APPENDIX. 


355 


giving  an  advantage  over  us  to  those  in  whom  they  are  exclusively 
vested,  they  establish,  tJuroughout  the  kingdom,  a  species  of  qualified 
monopoly,  uniformly  operating  in  our  disfavor,  contrary  to  the  spirit, 
and  highly  detrimental  to  the  freedom  of  trade. 

We  may  not  found  nor  endow  any  university,  college,  or  school,  for 
the  education  of  our  children,  and  we  are  interdicted  from  obtaining 
degrees  in  the  University  of  Dublin  by  the  several  charters  and  stat- 
utes now  in  force  therein. 

We  are  totally  prohibited  from  keeping  or  using  weapons  for  the 
defence  of  our  houses,  families,  or  persons,  whereby  we  are  exposed  to 
the  violence  of  burglary,  robbery,  and  assassination ;  and  to  enforce 
this  prohibition,  contravening  that  great  original  law  of  nature  which 
enjoins  us  to  self-defence,  a  variety  of  statutes  exist,  not  less  grievous 
and  oppressive  in  their  provisions  than  unjust  in  their  object :  by  one 
of  which,  enacted  so  lately  as  within  these  sixteen  years,  every  of  your 
majesty's  Catholic  subjects,  of  whatever  rank  or  degree,  peer  or  peas- 
ant, is  compellable  by  any  magistrate  to  come  forward  and  convict 
himself  of  what  may  be  thought  a  singular  offence  in  a  country  pro- 
fessing to  be  free  —  keeping  arms  for  Jiis  defence ;  or,  if  he  shall  re- 
fuse so  to  do,  may  incur  not  only  fine  and  imprisonment,  but  the  vile 
and  ignominious  punishment  of  the  pillory  and  whipping  —  penalties 
appropriated  to  the  most  infamous  malefactors,  and  more  terrible  to  a 
liberal  mind  than  death  itself. 

No  Catholic  whatsoever,  as  we  apprehend,  has  his  personal  property 
secure.  The  law  allows  and  encourages  the  disobedient  and  unnatural 
child  to  conform  and  deprive  him  of  it :  the  unhappy  father  does  not, 
even  by  the  surrender  of  his  all,  purchase  his  repose;  he  may  be 
attacked  by  new  bills,  if  his  future  industry  be  successful,  and  again 
be  plundered  by  due  process  of  law. 

We  are  excluded,  or  may  be  excluded,  from  all  petit  juries  in  civil 
actions,  where  one  of  the  parties  is  a  Protestant ;  and  we  are  further 
excluded  from  all  petit  juries  in  trials  by  information  or  indictment, 
founded  on  any  of  the  Popery  laws,  by  which  liaw  we  most  humbly 
submit  to  your  majesty,  that  your  loyal  subjects,  the  Catholics  of  Ire- 
land, are  in  this,  their  ntitive  land,  in  a  worse  condition  than  that  of 
aliens,  for  they  may  demand  an  equitable  privilege  denied  to  us,  of 
having  half  their  jury  aliens  like  themselves. 

We  may  not  serve  on  grand  juries,  unless,  which  it  is  scarcely  possi- 
ble can  ever  happen,  there  should  not  be  found  a  sufficiency  of  Protes- 
tants to  complete  the  panel;  contrary  to  that  humane  and  equitable 
principle  of  the  law,  which  says  that  no  man  shall  be  convicted  of  any 
capital  offence,  unlessi  by  the  concurring  verdicts  of  two  juries  of  his 
neighbors  and  equals ;  whereby,  and  to  this  we  humbly  presume  more 
particularly  to  implore  your  royal  attention,  we-  are  deprived  of  the 
great  palladium  of  the  constitution,  trial  by  our  peers,  independent  of 
the  manifest  injustice  of  our  property  being  taxed  in  assessments  by 
a  body  from  which  we  are  formally  excluded. 

We  avoid  a  further  enumeration  of  inferior  grievances ;  but,  may  it 
please  your  majesty,  there  remains  one  incapacity  which  your  loyal 
subjects  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  feel  with  most  poignant  anguish  of 
mind,  as  being  the  badge  of  unmerited  disgrace  and  ignominy,  and  the 


i« 


.1  ^ 


#' 


.,l 


■  ■*?' 


m^- 


ii«. 


856 


'■*.-'pr" 


Sj- 


APPENDIX. 


cause  and  bitter  aggravation  of  all  our  other  calamities:  we  are  de 
prived  of  the  elective  franchise,  to  the  manifest  perversion  of  the  spirit 
of  the  constitution,  inasmuch  as  your  faithful  subjects  are  thereby  taxed 
where  they  are  not  represented,  actually  or  virtually,  and  bound  by 
laws,  in  the  framing  of  which  they  have  no  power  to  give  or  withhold 
their  assent;  and  we  most  humbly  implore  your  majesty  to  believe, 
that  this,  our  prime  and  heavy  grievance,  is  not  an  evil  merely  specu- 
lative, but  is  attended  with  great  distress  to  all  ranks,  and,  in  many 
instances,  with  the  total  ruin  and  destruction  of  the  lower  orders  of 
your  majesty's  faithful  and  loyal  subjecto,  the  Catholics  of  Ireland ;  for, 
may  it  please  your  majesty,  not  to  mention  the  infinite  variety  of  ad- 
vantages, in  point  of  protection  and  otherwise,  which  the  enjoyment  of 
the  elective  franchise  gives  to  those  who  possess  it,  nor  the  consequent 
inconveniences  to  which  those  who  are  deprived  thereof  are  liable,  not 
to  mention  the  disgrace  to  three  fourths  of  your  loyal  subjects  of  Ire- 
land of  living,  the  only  body  of  men  incapable  of  franchise,  in  a  nation 
possessing  a  free  constitution,  it  continually  happens,  and  of  necessity, 
from  the  malignant  nature  of  the  law,  must  happen,  that  multitudes  of 
the  €kholic  tenantry,  in  divers  counties  in  this  kingdom,  are,  at  the 
expiration  of  their  leases,  expelled  from  their  tenements  and  farms,  to 
make  room  for  Protestant  freeholders,  who,  by  their  votes,  may  con- 
tribute to  the  weight  and  importance  of  their  landlords :  a  circumstance 
which  renders  thg  recurronce  of  a  general  election — that  period  which 
is  the  bdast  and  laudable  triumph  of  our  Protestant  brethren  —  a  visita- 
tion and  heavy  curse  to  us,  your  majesty's  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects. 
And  may  it  please  your  majesty,  this  uncertainty  of  possession  to  your 
majesty's  Catholic  subjects  operates  as  a  perpetual  restraint  and  dis- 
couragement on  industry  and  the  spirit  of  cultivation,  whereby  it  hap- 
pens that  this  your  majesty's  kingdom  of  Ireland,  possessing  many  and 
great  natural  advantages  of  soil  and  climate,  so  as  to  be  exceeded 
therein  by  few,  if  any,  countries  on  the  earth,  is  yet  prevented  from 
availing  herself  thereof  so  fully  as  she  otherwise  might,  to  the  further- 
ance of  your  majesty's  honor,  and  the  more  effectual  support  of  your 
service. 

And  may  it  please  your  majesty,  the  evil  does  not  even  rest  here ; 
for  many  of  your  majesty's  Catholic  subjects,  to  preserve  their  families 
from  total  destruction,  submit  to  a  nominal  conformity,  against  their 
cohviction  and  their  conscience;  and,  preferring  perjury  to  famine, 
take  oaths  which  they  utterly  disbelieve :  a  circumstance  which,  we 
doubt  not,  will  shock  your  majesty's  well-known  and  exemplary  piety, 
not  less  than  the  misery  which  drives  those  unhappy  wretches  to  so 
desperate  a  measure  must  distress  and  wound  your  royal  clemency  and 
commiseration. 

And  may  it  please  your  majesty,  though  we  might  here  rest  our  case 
on  its  own  merits,  justice,  and  expediency,  yet  we  further  presume 
humbly  to  submit  to  your  majesty,  that  the  right  of  franchise  was,  with 
divers  other  rights,  enjoyed  by  the  Catholics  of  this  Kingdom,  from  the 
first  adoption  of  the  English  constitution  by  our  forefatliers ;  was 
secured  to  at  least  a  great  part  of  our  body  by  the  treaty  of  Limerick, 
m  16J1,  guarantied  by  your  majesty's  royal  predecessors.  King  William 
and  Q«ueen  Mary,  and  finally  confinned  and  ratified  by  ParUament ;  uot- 


■■4.. 


■■3P'' 


* 


'■$■ 


.*-■..  ai-.tdl 


;#..,<#>-, 


'TIS 


* 


to 


* 


#> 


If' 


•4f.. 


*i. 


APPENDIX. 


357 


withstanding  which,  and  in  direct  breach  of  the  public  faith  of  the 
nation,  thus  solemnly  pledged,  for  which  our  ancestors  paid  a  valuable 
consideration,  in  the  surrender  of  their  arms  and  a  great  part  of  this 
kingdom,  and  notwithstanding  the  most  scrupulous  adherence,  on  o\m^ 
part,  to  the  terms  of  the  said  treaty,  and  our  unremitting  loyalty  from 
that  day  to  the  present,  the  said  right  of  elective  franchise  was  finally 
aud  umversally  taken  away  from  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  so  lately  as 
the  first  year  of  his  majesty  King  George  II. 

And  when  we  thus  presume  to  submit  this  infraction  of  the  treaty  ' 
of  Limerick  to  your  majesty's  royal  notice,  it  is  not  that  we  ourselves 
consider  it  to  be  the  strong  part  of  our  case ;  for,  though  our  rights 
were  recognized,  they  were  by  no  means  created  by  that  treaty ;  and 
we  do,  with  all  humility,  conceive,  that,  if  no  such  event  as  the  said 
treaty  had  ever  taken  place,  your  majesty's  Catholic  subjects,  from 
their  unvarying  loyalty  and  dutiful  submission  to  the  laws,  and  from  ' 
the  great  support  afforded  by  them  to  your  majesty's  government  in  this^ 
country,  as  well  in  their  personal  service  in  your  majesty's  fleets  and 
armies  as  from  the  taxes  and  revenues  levied  on  their  property,  anel 
fully  competent  and  justly  entitled  to  participate  and  enjoy  the  bless- 
ings of  the  constitution  of  their  country. 

And  now  that  we  have,  with  all  humility,  submitted  our  grievances 
to  your  majesty,  permit  us,  most  gracious  sovereign,  again  to  repre- 
sent our  sincere  attachment  to  the  constitution,  as  established  in  three 
estates  of  King,  Lords,  and  Commons;  our  uninterrupted  loyalty, 
peaceable  demeanor,  and  submission  to  the  laws  for  one  hundred 
years ;  and  our  determination  to  persevere  in  the  same  dutiful  conduct 
which  has,  under  your  majesty's  happy  auspices,  procured  us  those 
relaxations  of  the  penal  statutes,  which  the  wisdom  of  the  legislature 
has  from  time  to  time  thought  proper  to  grant ;  we  humbly  presume  to 
hope  that  your  majesty,  in  your  paternal  goodness  and  affection  towards 
a  numerous  and  oppressed  body  of  your  loyal  subjects,  may  be  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  recommend  to  your  Parliament  of  Ireland  to  take 
into  their  consideration  the  whole  of  our  situation,  our  numbers,  our 
merits,  and  our  sufferings ;  and,  as  we  do  not  give  place  to  any  of  your 
majesty's  subjects  in  loyalty  and  attachment  to  your  sacred  person,  we 
cannot  suppress  our  wishes  of  being  restored  to  the  rights  and  privi->; 
leges  of  the  constitution  of  our  country,  and  thereby  becoming  more 
worthy,  as  well  as  more  capable,  of  rendering  your  majesty  that  ser- 
vice, which  it  is  not  less  our  duty  than  our  inclination  to  afford. 

So  may  your  majesty  transmit  to  your  latest  posterity  a  crown 
secured  by  public  advantage  and  public  affection ;  and  so  may  your 
royal  person  become,  if  possible,  more  dear  to  your  grateful  people. 

[The  above  petition  is  signed  by  the  delegates  from  the  following 
counties,  cities,  and  towns,  in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland.] 


fw 


John  Thomas  Troy  D.  D.,  Roman      p^^  ^^^^^^        ^^^  ^     ^ 
Cathoic  Archbishop  of  Dublin      (       ^.^^j^^^.^        j  ^     j 

H.  Moylan,  D.  D.,  Roman  Catholic  (       ^  ^^    £  ^y 

Bishop  of  Cork,     .  .        J. 


. 


I  , 


% 


358 


APPENDIX. 


Luke  Telling, 
Oliver  O'Hara, 
Bernard  O'Neill, 
Theo.  MacKenna, 
Charles  Whittington, 
Owen  O'Cailaghan, 
Walter  Fitzgerald, 
Edwarj?    'utler, 

WilliaL.  Finn,  Thomas  Warren, 
Hugh  O'Reily, 
James  Pallas, 
Edward  Dowell, 
Patrick  Dowell, 
Patrick  O'Reilly, 
Lawrence  Comyn, 
James  O'Gorman, 
Nicholas  Mahon, 
Daniel  O'Connell, 
Fratibis  MacMahon,  Jr., 
William  Cqppinger, 
John  Therry, 

Nicholas  Francis  Coppinger, 
D.  Rochfort, 
Bryan  Scheehy, 
Edward  Byrne, 
Dennis  Thomas  O'Brien, 
Richard  Dodd, 
Daniel  MacLaughlin, 
Andrew  MacShane, 
Samuel  Norris, 
John  O'Neill, 
John  Magenis, 
Thomas  Savrtge, 
James  Kenney, 
Patrick  Thunder, 
Barry  Lawless, 
Patrick  Smith, 
Peter  Farrell, 
Thomas  Segrave, 
Heniy  Thunder, 
James  Kiernan, 
Philip  Maguire, 
Terence  Maguire, 
Richard  Kiernan, 
Christopher  Dillon  Bellew, 
Christopher  Bellew, 
V  Thomas  French, 
Thomas  Hussey, 
Matthew  Moriarty, 


# 


For  ourselves  and  the  Catholics 
of  the  county  of  Antrim 

County  of  Armagh. 
County  of  Carlow. 

>  County  of  Cavan. 
County  of  Clare. 


.\'m'      ^ 


County  and  city  of  Cork. 


County  of  Donnegal. 


* 


►  County  of  Down. 


>  County  of  Dublin. 


County  of  Fermanagh 


County  of  Galway. 
>  County  of  Kerry. 


ib' 


t? 


^- 


I  I 


-w 


■'J# 


:* 


•   • 


« 


*• 


»lic8 


'^%l 


■^ 


--*! 


Thomas  Fit'geitild,  Jr., 
Charles  Aylmer, 
John  Esmonde, 
Chnstopher  Nangle, 
James  Arcbbold, 
Randel  MacDonnell, 
Edward  Sheil, 
Nicholas  Devereux, 
Patrick  Oliver  Plunkett, 
Francis  Bennett, 
Myles  Keon, 
Hugh  O'Beirne, 
John  Keogh, 
Robert  Dillon, 
Bryan  Sheehy, 
R.  Sheehy  Keatinge, 
Richard  MacCormick, 
Andrew  MacShane, 
Richard  Dodd, 
James  Count  Nugent, 
Christopher  Nugent, 
Bernard  O'Reilly, 
Edward  MacEvoy, 
John  Weldon, 
Patrick  Byrne, 
Patrick  Russell, 
Tames  Joseph  MacDonnell, 
Edmund  Dillon, 
Andrew  Crean  Lynch, 
Nicholas  Fitzgerald, 
Theodore  Mahon, 
James  Nangle, 
Bartholomew  Bamwall, 
Michael  Johnson, 
Richard  Barnewall, 
Thomas  Ryan  M.  D., 
Hugh  Hamill, 
James  Carolan, 
Bartholomew  Clinton, 
Daniel  Reilly, 
Morgan  Kavanagh, 
James  Warren,  . 
William  Dunne, 
Edward  Byrne,  Jr., 
John  Fallen, 
James  Plunkett, 
Owen  O'Connor, 


APPENDIX.  .M^' 

•  County  of  Klldare.        J* 

County  of  Kilkenny.  -^ 
King's  County. 


i 


County  of  Leitrim. 

County  ofLimerict. 
County  of  Londonderry. 

County  of  Westmeath 

-  %.fM 
County  of  Louth. 

County  of  Mayo. 


{ 


County  of  Meath. 


*359 


>  County  of  Monaghart 


Queen's  County. 


County  of  Roscommon. 


^ 


fi 


%■ 


•   • 


360 


APPENDIX. 


'  ^  w 


Huffh  MacDeinnot,  M.  D., 

J^  Everard,  ' 

Patrick  Mullarky, 
'  John  MacDonogh^ 

Cnarles  O'Connor, 

James  Ay  1  ward, 

Lawrence  Smyth, 

John  Lalor, 

D'^nnis  O'Meagher, 

Thomas  Mahon, 

Thomas  Richard  Geraghty, 

Terence  O'Neill, 

Bernard  MacMahon, 

John  Ball, 

John  Byrne, 

John  Fairfield,  f^. 

Patrick  Power, 

Bartholomew  Rivers, 

Richard  MacKenna, 

John  Dillon, 

Thomas  Kirwan, 

James  Edward  Devereaux, 

Harvey  Hay,  ^ 

Edward  Hay,  '^f^ 

Edward  Sweetraan, 

Walter  Byrne, 

Thomas  Fitz  Simon, 

Richard  Doyle,  „ 

Patrick  Cavenagh, 

Peter  Brady, 

Michael  Dardis, 

Lattin  Fitzgerald, 

John  Walsh, 

John  Cormick, 
^  Christopher  Teeling,  M.  D., 

Laurence  MacDermott, 

John  Byrne, 

Edward  Madden, 

Thomas  Warren, 

Lewis  Flanegan, 

James  MoUoy,        ■;       ':i-- 

Thomas  Magan,      ^    " 

Ignatius  Wsldon, 

Thomas  Lynch, 

Edward  Sutton, 

William  Kearney, 

Michael  MacCarty,        ^- 


County  of  Sligo. 


County  of  Tipperary. 


County  of  Tyrone. 


•  County  and  city  of  Waterford. 


< 


County  of  Wexford. 


I 


if 


County  of  Wicklow. 


County  of  Westmcath'. 

>  Town  of  Carrickfergus. 

Town  of  Armagh. 
Town  of  Inniskillin. 
Town  of  Jarlow. 

>  Philliptown. 
Town  of  Dundalk. 

}  Town  of  Trim. 

Town  of  Wexford. 


■n- 


'/ 


AV 


-%-. 


^ 


ibrd. 


*.i; 


1 
■*». 


APPENi)IX. 


361 


Francis  Arthur, 
Jasper  White, 
Luke  Stritch, 
George  O'Halloran, 
William  Sweetman, 
Charles  Young, 
John  Rivers, 

Matthew  James  Plunkett, 
Henry  Lynch, 
Malachy  O'Connor, 
Edmund  Lynch  Athy,  '!£ 
Martin  P.  Lynch, 
James  Fitz  bimons, 
N.  LeFavre, 
Hugh  Leonard, 
John  Dunn, 
James  Bird, 
Roger  Hamill, 
Gerald  Dillon, 
Jeremiah  Dwyer, 
Simon  Kelly, 
Mark  Dowlin, 
James  Reilly, 
Charles  Drumgooie, 
Paul  Houston, 
Philip  Sullivan, 
Thomas  Doran, 
James  Kelly, 
John  Donahoe, 
Con.  Loughmyn, 
John  Shearman, 
John  Murphy, 
James  Dixon, 
Joseph  Patrick  Calull, 
G.  Fitzgerald, 
John  MacLoghlin, 
William  James  MacNeven, 
Edward  Geoghehan, 
Denis  Cassin, 
Richard  Cross, 
Patrick  Byrne, 
Thomas  Bourke, 
John  O'Neill, 
Richard  Browne, 
Gregory  Scurlog, 
Hubert  Thomas  Dolphin, 
Hemry  Johnston, 
Patrick  Byrne. 
W.  S.  Kindelan,  ' 

31 


fHk 


'  City  of  Limerkk. 

CIonmelL 

Town  of  Galway 

Carrick  on  Shannon. 
Town  of  Castlebar. 
Town  of  Sligo. 

Town  of  Drogheda. 

Town  of  Cashel. 
Town  of  Athlone. 

Town  and  lordship  of  NQWiy. 

Town  of  Enniscorthy. 

Ballyshannon. 

Tovn  of  Carnck  on  Suir. 

City  of  Kilkenny. 

Dungairvan. 

Townof  Athy. 

Town  of  Boyle. 

Navan.  '% 

ft! 

Town  of  Balljrmahcn. 
Town  of  Belfast. 

Town  of  Athboy. 

Town  of  Carrickmacrosa. 

Loughrea. 
Maryborough. 

>  Ardee.  •;>;■■'■-: 4.,- -^►^v-w 


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A.  Thompson, 

Town  of  Thurles. 

John  Esmond,               ^                 i 
Joseph  Byrne,               ^                 i 

-  TownofNaas. 

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1                          Anthony  French, 

Town  of  Athenry. 

•■■■,  ■ 

1                          John  Ball,  Jr., 

Maryborough. 

f 

j                          John  Duffy, 

Town  of  Roscrea. 

V 

i                         Christopher  Taylor, 
1                          Richard  Dili    j. 

Town  of  Swords. 

1                          Thomas  Kennedy, 
1                          Jonathan  Lynch, 
1           V             Thomas  Glanan, 

•' 

H                           James  Marphy, 

■■♦•■    ■ 

1                          John  White, 

1                         Lewis  Lyons, 
1                          Patrick  Bean, 

■   £' 

Edward  Lewines, 

■  .       ,ki 

r 

A.  Daly,  M.  D., 

\    '                       .   \ 

Nicholas  Elcock, 

*,"'.."                  '      ■ 

Simon  Maguire, 

V         * 

William  Ilyland, 

w 

,1 

Patrick  Marsh, 

\\ 

1 

Thomas  Reynolds, 

,' 

John  SwQotman, 

Michael  Boylan, 
James  ponolly. 

<  City  of  Dublin. 

' 

Thomas  Braughall, 

< 

Charles  Ryan, 

John  Ball,                      >.,j|M 
Thomas  MacDonnell,      .  >^  ^ ;  ^, 

.,„./■>',.',  ■ 

Christopher  Kelly, 

-.■  .    ■  .;     ;^'' 

'' 

I                       Patrick  Sweetman, 

«                1 

m                       John  Sutton,              i4>  #k^  ^ 

m                        John  Comerford, 

I' 

I 

P                        Patrick  Grehan, 

'1 

|{                         James  Ferrall, 

' ;  ^i-JiliA'.' 

' 

1                        William  Clark, 

» 

John  Kearney, 

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V     Richard  Walsh,             ,m~ 

-  * 

{ 

J.  G,  Kennedy, 

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John  Andrews, 

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w 


w 


APPENDIX. 


363 


f?  fm    iljm^jfk    'M^!      ^^^    ^•"■'T  '"i-f^h'*'''   f  * 


NO.  IV. 

THE  POPE'S  LETTER  ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF 

THE  VETO. 

ADDRESSED  TO  THE  CATHOLIC  PRELATES  OF  IRELAND. 


TO   OUR  VENERABLE   BROTHERS, 

!?%fl  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  Ireland, 
PIUS  P.  P.  VII. 

Venerable  brothers,  health  and  apostolical  benediction.  The  peru- 
sal of  your  letter,  delivered  to  ua  by  our  venerable  brothers,  Daniel, 
Archbishop  ci  Hierapolis,  coadjutor  of  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and 
John,  Bishop  of  Cork,  together  with  certain  resolutions  passed  with 
your  joint  concurrence  at  a  synod  held  in  Dublin,  on  the  S^d  ind  24Vi 
days  of  August,  of  the  last  year,  1815,  has  impressed  our  mind  with  a 
deep  sense  of  concern.  For  we,  having  openly  declared  the  conditions 
to  which  we  could  assent,  in  case  the  expectation  excited  by  the  gov- 
ernment of  granting  emancipation  should  oe  realized,  imagined  we  had, 
as  far  as  in  our  power  lay,  removed  the  difficulties  which  opposed  the 
emancipation  of  the  Catholics  of  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britam,  and,  in 
a  certain  degree,  had  prepared  a  way  for  the  obtainment  of  a  benefit, 
so  long  and  so  earnestly  looked  for.  With  this  hope,  and  relying  on  it 
with  certain  confidence,  we  gave  instructions  to  our  venerable  brother 
Laurence,  Bishop  of  Sabina,  cardinal  of  the  holy  Roman  church,  and 
prefect  of  the  congregation  de  Propaganda  Fide,  to  communicate  our 
sentiments  in  a  letter  to  our  venerable l>rother  the  Archbishop  of  Dub- 
lin, through  whom  they  might  subsequently  be  made  known  to  your 
whole  body  also,  which  has  been  performed  by  him  according  to  the 
instructions  received  from  us.  With  what  pain  then  do  we  find  it  ex- 
pressly declared  in  your  letter,  that  the  expedient  which,  amongst  others, 
we  signified  that  we  would  follow,  for  satisfying  the  government  of  the 
loyalty  of  those  to  be  elected  bishops,  not  only  did  not  meet  your  ap- 
probation, but  appeared  to  you  to  threaten  destruction  to  the  Catholic 
religion  in  Ireland !  Wherefore,  in  conformity  with  our  duty,  we  de- 
spatch the  present  letter  to  you,  for  the  purpose  of  effacing  from  your 
minds  the  not  sufficiently  well-founded  opinion  which  you  appear  to  en- 
tertain in  regard  to  the  expedient  above  alluded  to.  We  trust  that 
God,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose  vicar  on  earth,  though  from  no 
merits  of  our  own,  we  glory  in  being,  will  give  from  above  such  force 
to  our  words,  that  the  weighty  reasons  which  we  are  about  to  lay  be- 


» 


,0I< 


364 


APPENDIX. 


w 


'^y*. 


fore  you  shall  so  affect  your  mindfl  as  tx)  induce  you  to  lay  aside  all 
anxiety  relative  to  the  expedient  already  stated  as  approved  of  by  us. 

It  is  necessary,  therefore,  venerable  brothers,  that  you  should  bring 
distinctly  to  your  recollection  the  noint  of  the  expedient  proposed  by 
us,  which  has  caused  you  so  much  fear  and  anxiety.  When  it  became 
incumbent  on  us  to  adopt  some  method  by  which,  after  the  law  granting 
emancipation  should  be  passed,  the  government  might  be  satisfied  of  the 
loyalty  of  those  to  be  chosen  bishops,  of  which  those  at  the  head  of  it 
entertained  very  groundless  indeed,  but  very  serious  apprehensions, 
what  did  we  propose  ?  Was  it,  that  under  the  obligation  of  a  conven- 
tion, or  by  any  other  mode,  or  in  any  other  form  to  be  submitted  to,  per- 
haps if  not  strictly  eligible,  the  right  of  nomination,  of  presentation,  of 
postulation,  should  be  granted  to  govemnient,  so  that  those  administer- 
ing it  might  dictate  to  us  the  names  of  clergymen  to  be  by  us  appointed 
bishops  in  that  kingdom  ?  By  no  means ;  for  while  we  strenuously  ad- 
hered to  the  wise  principles  of  our  never-to-be-forgotten  predecessor, 
Pope  Benedict  the  Fourteenth,  relative  to  the  never  granting  to  princes, 
not  being  Catholics,  the  priviloge  of  nominating  to  bishoprics  or  abba- 
cies, declared  by  him  in  a  letter  written  to  the  Bishop  of  Breslaw,  on 
the  15th  of  May,  in  the  year  1748,  we  carried  our  precautiorie  so  far, 
that  we  proposed  nothing  which  cculd  with  truth  be  said  to  convey  to 
the  government  a  power  as  to  the  choice  of  bishops.  We  only  de- 
clared that  we  would  grant  a  certain  power  of  exclusion;  and,  in 
order  that  the  power  so  given  might  never  be  turned  into  a  privilege 
of  election,  we  circumscribed  it  within  certain  limits,  and,  as  expressly 
stated  in  the  letter  of  Cardinal  Litta,  already  quoted,  we  announced,  that 
what  we  meant  to  permit  was  to  extend  no  further  than  this —  "  That 
those  whose  province  it  is  may  present  to  the  king*s  ministers  the 
list  of  the  candidates,  in  order  that  if  there  be  amongst  them  the  name 
of  any  person  displeasing  to,  or  suspected  by,  the  government,  such 
name  m^  be  immediately  pointed  ont  and  erased ;  still,  however,  so 
that  a  sufficient  number  may  remain,  from  which  his  holiness  may  freely 
choose  whom  in  the  Lord  he  may  judge  more  fit  for  presiding  over  the 
vacant  sees."  This  then  is  what  we  propose  to  allow,  in  order  that 
all  room  for  doubt  concerning  the  loyaltv  of  the  prelacy  should  be  re- 
moved from  the  mind  of  government.  Its  sphere  of  interference  will 
be,  you  must  perceive,  very  limited,  being  confined  to  this  —  that  it  shall 
be  empowered  to  erase  from  the  list  of  candidates  to  be  presented  to 
this  holy  see  for  appointment  to  vacant  bishoprics  (which  list  we  al- 
lowed should  be  submitted  to  the  king's  ministers  for  that  purpose)  the 
names  of  any  persons  whose  loyalty  may  be  viewed  wiWi  suspicion, 
still,  however,  with  this  stipulation  and  condition,  that,  afler  the  erasure 
of  those  names,  a  sufficient  number  of  candidates  shall  remain,  from 
which  we,  and  the  popes  of  Rome,  our  successors,  may  freely  choose 
him  whom  we  shall  judge  of  all  tlie  most  worthy  of  the  episcopal  rank 
and  office. 

Wherefore,  venerable  brothers,  it  is  unquestionably  evident,  that  what 
we  have  done  amounts  only  to  this :  we  have  agreed  to  act  steadily  to- 
wards the  British  government,  according  to  the  same  rule,  useful  in 


APPENDIX. 


365 


itself,  founded  in  prudence;,  which  our  predeceflnora,  the  Romtn  pontifili, 
even  before  those  times  when  the  nomination  of  bishops  wm  granted  to 
princes,  determined,  in  their  wisdom,  to  maintain  as  effectually  as  nii|i;ht 
DC  ;  that  is,  not  to  promote  to  vacant  sees  any  persons  whom  they  might 
know  to  be  unpleasing  to  the  powers  under  whom  the  dioceses  to  be 
administered  by  them  were  situated  ;  which  rule,  far  from  binng  con-  ? 
sidered  injurious  to  the  church,  and  far  from  having  brought  any  evil  oq  i 
it,  is  justlv  approved  of  and  praised  by  all.    For  it  is  fouiraed  on  a  prin-  t 
ciple  laid  down  by  another  of  our  most  illustrious  predecessors,  St.  n 
Leo  the  Great,*  ^'  that  none  be  ordained  bishop  without  the  consent  and  f 
postulation  of  the  flock,  lest  an  unwelcome  intruder  incur  its  contempt 
or  hatred."    Now,  this  principle,  although  literally  applicable  to  the 
people  only,  to  whose  postulations  at  that  time  regaro  was  had  in  the 
election  of  bishops,  must  rightfully  be  extended  to  princes,  the  neces-   . 
sary  circumstances  concurring,  and  even  to  those  who  are  not  in  com- 
munion with  us,  who,  from  tne  nature  of  their  power  in  temporal  af- 
fairs, have  so  easily  the  means  of  preventing  a  bishop,  who  may  be  the 
object  of  their  dislike  or  suspicion,  from  the  care  of  the  flock  commit- 
ted to  his  charge.  { 
But  you  appear  to  entertain  serious  apprehensions  that,  if  the  power   v 
spoken  of  be  granted,  tlie  government  may  successively  erase,  from  tlie  j 
list  to  be  presented  to  it,  the  names  of  those  most  worthy  of  the  honor  | 
of  episcopacy,  and  by  this  meai.    ^nmpel  those  who  shall  have  the  trans-    . 
action  of  the  business  to  name  the  clergyman  whom  it  shall  judge  most 
likely  to  be  subservient  to  its  views,  and  that  the  destruction  of  the 
Catholic  religion  may  thence  take  its  rise.     Observe,  however,  vener- 
able brothers,  how  destitute  these  your  apprehensions  are  of  all  reason 
und  all  foundation ;  remember  that  the  government  which,  under  other 
circumstances,  might  be  suspected  of  entertaining  projects  hostile  to  ^ 
the  Catholic  religion,  is  the  same  which  by  laws,  especially  those  passed  | 
in  the  years  1773,  1788, 1791,  and  1793,  repealed  a  great  part  of  those  ji 
penal  statutes  by  which  the  Catholics  of  the  British  empire  were  so 
grievously  oppressed ;  remember  how  often  your  most  excellent  King    , 
George  the  Third,  and  his  illustrious  son,  have  extended  their  protection  $ 
to  Catholics,  and  that  the  British  government  was  amongst  tfcue  chief  of  | 
our  supporters  in  procuring  our  return  to  the  pontifical  chair,  and  our   . 
restoration  to  our  ancient  independence  in  the  exercise  of  those  spiritual  « 
rights  which  the  hand  of  violence  had  wrested  from  us.    Upon  what 
grounds,  therefore,  could  any  one  suspect  that  this  same  government 
entertained  a  design  to  destroy  that  most  holy  religion,  which,  by  ita   . 
favor  and  protection,  it  had  so  oflen  guarded?    And  if  certain  at- 
tempts are  still  made  in  your  island,  to  the  injury  of  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion, these  undoubtedly  either  are  the  acts  of  private  individuals,  or 
they  will  altogether  cease,  as  soon  as  all  laws  enacted  against  Catholics   . 
being  repealed,  the  latter  shall  be  placed  on  the  same  footing  as  other 
subjects,  and  no  objection  be  further  made  to  the  free  profession  of  the 
Catholic  religion. 


*  Leo  Magnus,  Ep.  la.    Aoascspt  5. 

31* 


'i 


366 


APPENDIX. 


\ 


li 


Now,  althongrh  it  were  a  thing  to  be  apprehended,  which  to  us  ap' 

Sears  altogfether  incredible,  that  the  proiects  of  government  were 
irected  to  the  destruction  of  the  Catholic  religion,  yet  the  power  which 
we  declared  ourselves  willing  to  grant  could  never  be  perverted  into 
the  means  of  producing  such  an  effect  For  the  list  in  which  the 
names  of  the  candidates  are  to  be  contained  will  certainly  not  be  made 
out  by  the  government,  but  by  the  care  and  attention  oi  those,  being 
Catholics,  who  usually  propose  to  this  see  persons  for  promotion  to  the 

acant  bishoprics  of  your  kingdom,  which  Catholics,  excelled  by  none 
in  their  zeal  for  religion,  will  msert  in  their  list  the  names  of  such  ec- 
clesiastics only  as  they  shall  judge  best  suited  for  sustaining  the  weight 
of  the  episcopal  dignity ;  but  government,  according  to  the  condition, 
which  is,  as  we  have  mentioned,  to  make  an  essential  part  of  our  proposed 
concession,  shall  be  allowed  to  point  out  for  erasure  from  the  list,  not 
all,  but  some  only  of  the  names  proposed,  and  be  bound  to  leave  a  suffi- 
cient number,  out  of  which  a  free  election  of  one  may  be  made  by  us. 
So  that,  although  some  be  rejected  by  government,  yet  our  selection  will 
still  be  occupied  about  such  only  as,  by  the  suffrage  of  Catholics,  shall 
have  been  judged  the  most  worthy,  and  tiierefore  inserted  in  the  lists  of 
candidates,  ana  for  this  reason  it  can  never  happen  (provided  the  con* 
dition  laid  down  by  us  be  adhered  to,  from  which,  if  any  deviation  be 
made,  the  concession  itself  becomes  invalid)  that  the  government,  by 
excluding  many  in  succession,  should,  at  last,  compel  the  electors  to 
the  choice  of  one  unworthy  of  the  office,  and  likely  to  be  subservient 
to  its  plans  for  the  destruction  of  the  Catholic  religion. 

This  also,  venerable  brothers,  it  is  right  that  you  should  seriously 
advert  to,  that  it  was  not  possible  for  us  to  refuse  this  small  interfer- 
ence in  the  election  of  bishops  to  the  British  government,  without  ex- 
citing, in  a  serious  degree,  the  displeasure  of  that  government  towards 
the  whole  church.  It  were  indeed  to  be  wished,  and  it  is  what  we  of 
all  others  most  earnestly  desire,  that  in  the  election  of  bishops  we  en- 
joyed that  full  and  complete  freedom  which  so  peculiarly  makes  a  part 
of  our  supremacy,  and  that  no  lay  power  had  any  share  whatever  m  a 
matter  of  so  much  moment.  But  you  yourselves  well  know  how  far 
we  are  at  present  removed  from  this  happy  state  of  things.  For  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe,  or  many  of  them  at  least,  have  demanded  and 
obtained,  from  the  apostolical  see,  a  greater  or  lesser  share  of  influence 
in  the  nomination  of  candidates.  And  hence  have  arisen  the  conven- 
Hong,  the  indtUts,  the  nominaiions,  the  postulaiions,  the  "presentations, 
and  other  expedients  of  this  kind,  by  which  the  extent  of  the  privileges 
granted  in  this  way  to  so  many  Catholic  sovereigns  is  limited  and  de- 
nned. Even  in  your  islands,  before  the  ever-to-be-lamented  separation 
from  the  Roman  church  took  place,  the  bishops  were  chosen  by  the 
pope,  upon  the  supplication  of  the  kin^,  as  is  recorded  in  the  acts  of 
the  consistory,  held  on  the  6th  of  July,  in  the  year  1554,  during  the  aus- 
picious ponuficate  of  Pope  Julius  the  Third.*    Besides,  not  Catholic 


*  Apnl.  Baynaldam  ad  an.  1554,  Nos.  5  and  6. 


APPENDIX. 


367 


sovereigna  alone^  but  othera  also  who  are  separated  from  our  commu- 
nion, claim  a  share  in  the  appointment  of  ecclesiastical  persons  to 
bishoprics,  situated  in  those  parts  of  their  dominions  which  yet  adhere 
to  the  Catholic  faith ;  a  claim  which  this  see  feels  it  necessary  to  sub- 
mit to. 

Such  being  the  state  of  this  momentous  question,  what  hope  could 
there  bo  entertained  that  the  British  government  would  long  have  sub- 
mitted to  an  exclusion  from  a  share  m  appointing  the  bishops  of  your 
island,  even  such  as  it  has  been  explained,  while  a  conduct  so  different 
is  observed,  not  only  to  Catholic  sovereigns,  to  those  even  whose  do- 
minions are  of  the  smallest  extent,  but  also  to  princes  who  do  not  belong 
to  our  communion  ?  Was  it  not  to  be  feared,  that,  if  we  had  declined 
adopting  the  measure  already  mentioned,  the  government  would  not 
only  lay  aside  all  intention  or  granting  emancipation  to  the  Catholics, 
but  withdraw  from  them  all  favor  and  {nrotection  throughout  the  whole 
of  its  so  widely-extended  dominions  ? 

Moreover,  an  additional  motive  of  jealousy  must  arisi;  in  the  mind 
of  government  towards  us  and  the  Catholic  cause  frorr  this  circum- 
stance, that  the  bishops  subject  to  its  dominiof ,  being  rendered  by  the 
emancipation,  supposing  it  granted,  qualified  to  sit  in  i  arliame  ,  new 
precautions  might  appear  necessary  to  remove  all  possibility  c  ioubt 
concerning  their  loyalty.  We  grant,  indeed,  that  no  additio  <  J  pledge 
of  that  loyalty  can  appear  necessary  to  us,  proved  as  '*  is  by  the  testi- 
mony of  the  experience  of  so  many  ages,  and  th'  I.-  <hops  binding 
themselves  to  fidelity  and  obedience  towards  the  g'  veniment,  by  the 
obligation  of  an  oath,  according  to  the  second  of  the  three  forms  which 
we  have  proposed ;  but  how  is  it  to  be  expected  that  the  government 
will  consent  to  relinquish  this  additional  security  for  the  loyalty  of  the 
bishops,  which  in  the  case  of  so  many  other  sovereigns  and  governments 
is  fully  allowed  ?  How  can  it  be  imagined  that  the  Fritish  government 
will  not  conceive  itself  unfairly  treated,  by  the  refusal  of  this  addi- 
tional security ;  or  that  it  will  not  derive  from  it  a  motive  of  doubting 
the  loyalty  of  the  Catholics,  which  unprincipled  men  are  constantly  la- 
boring to  bring  under  suspicion  ?  Who  can  believe  that  the  refusal  of 
even  such  a  return  as  this  for  the  mighty  benefit  of  emancipation  must 
not  excite  deep  resentment  in  the  muds  of  those  who  are  expected  to 
grant  it  ? 

For  the  prevention,  therefore,  of  thos;^  .;»jis  which  were  to  be  appre- 
hended on  the  part  of  so  powerful  a  government,  no  other  means 
appeared  to  us  sufficient  but  that  of  agreeing  to  those  rules  relative  to 
the  election  of  bishops,  which  are  fuentioned  in  the  letter  of  Cardinal 
Litta. 

Now,  with  regard  to  the  power  which  we  have  expressed  an  inten- 
tion of  granting,  we  consider  it  not  only  as  making  part  of  a  fit  and 
wise  arrangement  of  ecclesiastical  affairs,  which  shall  be  at  once  not 
injurious  to  religion,  and  a  means  of  averting  from  it  many  calamities 
otherwise  to  be  feared,  but  also  as  a  likely  motive  towards  the  obtain- 
ment  of  emancipation,  which  has  been  a  principal  inducement  witli  ua 
to  concede  it,  desirable  as  that  emancipation  is  t»  the  Catholics,  and 


'i. 


f  tel^JSJ- ": 


"»-:  J-ti-:  ,i^-^i£-^  > 


.• 


368 


AFPENDIX. 


attended,  as  it  must  be,  with  a  large  share  of  spiritual  advantages. 
Turn  your  thoughts,  venerable  brothers,  to  this,  and  consider  it  with 
particular  attention,  that  we,  in  ^nting  to  government  the  indulgence 
so  often  spoken  of,  have  been  mfluenced  by  no  political  or  temporal 
motives,  but  induced  solely  by  a  consideration  of  those  benefits  and 
advantages  which  must  flow  to  the  Catholic  religion  from  the  repeal  of 
the  penal  laws.  For  under  the  operation  of  those  laws,  whose  severity 
is  to  be  considered  as  not  falling  short  of  any,  even  the  most  grievous 
of  the  persecutions,  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  church,  what  afflic- 
tions, what  oppressions,  was  not  the  Catholic  religion  subject  to  in  your 
islands  ?  For  in  Great  Britain,  as  you  need  not  be  told,  the  Catholics 
are  reduced  to  an  inconsiderable  number,  while  the  succession  of  the 
Catholic  bishops  is  in  a  manner  destroyed,  a  few  vicars  apostolic  alone 
remaining ;  but  in  Ireland,  although  the  legitimate  succession  of  the 
hierarchy  has  been  preserved  inviolate  down  to  the  present  day,  and 
although  the  Irish  Catholics  have  been  ever  eminent  for  a  most  zealous 
attachment  to  our  holy  religion,  yet  their  number  has  been  unquestion- 
ably diminished  by  the  operation  of  the  penal  laws,  as  a  multitude  of 
Irish  writers  abundantly  testify. 

That  the  miserable  oondition  of  the  Catholics  in  both  islands  has 
been  greatly  relieved  by  the  clemency  of  George  III.,  and  the  repeal  in 
Parliament  of  many  of  the  laws  by  which  they  were  grievously  op- 
pressed, we  grant  and  acknowledge ;  still,  as  you  well  know,  many  yet 
remain  unrepealed,  which  press  heavily  on  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  and 
still  more  on  those  of  England,  and  from  which  the  evils  resulting  to 
the  Catliolic  religion,  under  their  operation,  must,  to  a  certain  degree 
at  least,  continue  to  flow.  For  which  reason  the  Catholics  of  England, 
almost  all,  and  of  Ireland,  at  least  a  great  number,  entertain  a  most 
earnest  desire  of  the  total  repeal  of  those  laws ;  and  have,  as  is  known 
to  all,  repeatedly  petitioned  for  such  repeal,  in  the  same  manner  as,  in 
the  early  ages  of  the  church,  the  Christians,  making  use  of  St.  Justin 
and  the  other  apologists  to  explain  their  wishes,  besought  the  abroga- 
tion of  the  laws  enacted  against  them,  which  gave  rise  to  the  dreadful 
persecutions  which  took  place  in  the  Roman  empire.  It  may  be  allowed 
to  hope  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  a  law  corresponding  with 
the  wishes  of  the  Catholics  shall  be  enacted,  which,  however,  be  their 
ri^ht  to  the  obtainment  of  emancipation  what  it  may,  never,  certainly, 
will  pass,  without  our  previously  granting  the  privilege  in  question. 

The  weight  of  those  reasons,  which  we  have  long  and  duly,  in  pro- 
portion to  their  high  importance,  considered,  has  induced  us,  after  first 
hearing  the  counsel  of  several  of  our  venerable  brothers,  cardinals  of 
the  holy  Roman  church,  and  examining  the  opinion  of  other  men,  emi- 
nent for  learning  and  a  knowledge  of  British  affairs,  to  propose  the 
temperament,  so  fully  explained  to  you,  for  the  settlement  of  this 
matter.  We  saw,  indeed,  that  an  infringement,  to  a  certain  degree, 
was  thereby  made  in  the  discipline  of  the  church,  which  claims  for  the 
Roman  pontiff"  a  complete  independence  in  the  election  of  bishops. 
But  with  regard  to  discipline,  who  is  ignorant  that  changes  may,  by  the 
legitimate  authority,  be  made,  in  compliance  with  tJie  circumstances 
of  things  and  times  ?  And  this  is  a  principle  which  our  predecessors 
have  umformly  maintained :  as  an  instance  of  which,  a  noble  maxim  of 


APPENDIX. 


36^ 


and 


St.  Leo  the  Great  particularly  occurs  to  us,  as  expressed  in  a  letter  to 
Rusticus,  Bishop  of  Narbbnne :  *  "As  there  are  certain  things  which 
can  on  no  account  be  altered,  so  are  there  many  whic];t  from  a  due 
consideration  of  times,  or  from  the  necessity  of  thmgs,  it  may  be  right, 
to  modify."  We  had  also  before  olir  eyes  the  rule  laid  down  by  our 
predecessor,  Innocent  III.,  who  8ays,f  "It  is  not  to  be  considered 
blamable  if,  in  consequence  of  a  change  of  times,  a  change  of  human 
laws  be  effected,  especially  when  an  urgent  necessity,  or  an  evident 
utility,  calls  for  such  change."  Now,  what  more  powerful  reas-^ns,  what 
more  momentous  circumstances,  could  ever  be  supposed  to  exist,  than 
those  by  which  we  felt  ourselves  affected,  and  which  we  have  not  hesi- 
tated thus  to  lay  before  you  ?  Since,  therefore,  the  privilege  offered 
by  us  is  in  itself  harmless,  and  consistent  also  with  all  the  rules  of 
prudence ;  since,  from  our  refusal  of  it,  heavy  calamities,  and,  from  our 
grant  of  it,  the  greatest  advantages  must  result  to  the  church,  (under- 
standing by  those  advantages  the  emancipation  of  the  Catholics,  and  the' 
restoration,  in  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  of  liberty  in  all  things  per- 
taining to  religion,)  why  should  we  hesitate  ?  What  motive  could 
have  retarded  us  from  openly  declaring  our  wish  to  grant  the  privilege 
in  question,  or  from  relaxing  somewhat  from  the  strictness  of  ecclesias- 
tical discipline  ?  We  unquestionably  judged  that  we  were  bound  to 
act  on  this  principle,  and  saw  ourselves  placed  in  such  a  situation,  that 
.we  might  justly  adopt  the  expressions  of  our  predecessor,  Gelasiu8:| 
"  We  are  compelled,  by  the  inevitable  dispensation  of  things,  and  by  a 
due  regard  to  the  maxims  of  government  adopted  by  the  apostolical 
see,  so  to  weigh  the  enactment  of  former  canons,  so  to  interpret  the 
decrees  of  preceding  pontiffs,  our  predecessors,  as,  employing  all  due 
and  diligent  consideration,  to  regulate,  as  well  as  may  be,  all  those 
things  which  the  necessity  of  the  present  times  may  require  to  be  re- 
laxed for  the  restoration  of  the  churches." 

We,  therefore,  venerable  brothers,  entertain  no  doubt  that  you  all, 
having  considered  and  duly  weighed  what  we  have  thus  set  before  you, 
will  acknowledge  the  measure  adopted  by  us  to  be  most  just,  and  will, 
in  all  respects,  conform  yourselves  to  it.  Let  your  ^.carts  glow  with 
that  zeal  for  religion  with  which  those  truly  apostolical  men  were  in- 
flamed, who  labored,  with  so  much  solicitude,  to  recall  the  Irish  nation 
from  the  erroneous  celebration  of  Easter,  as  practised  by  them  in  the 
sixth  and  seventh  ages  of  the  church,  and  at  length,  by  much  labor  and 
many  cares,  succeeded  in  establishing  in  your  island  the  time  of  cele- 
bration so  Btrenuously  vindicated  by  our  predecessors,  Honorius  I. 
and  John  IV.  Now,  if  you  shall  show  yourselves  desirous  to  set  an 
example  of  docility  to  others,  and  as  your  wisdom  so  powerfully  enables 
you  to  instruct  the  people,  and  allay  the  rising  emotions  of  their 
minds,  we  are  fully  persuaded  that  the  benefit  of  emancipation 
being  once  granted,  the  long  and  stormy  periods,  during  which  religion 
has  suffered  a  persecution  so  tedious  and  so  severe,  will  be  followed 


B-S 


•  Ep.  167.  Edit.  Balerin. 
\'-      t  Cap.  non  debet  3,  de  consang.  et  affinit. 
X  In  Epist.  ad  Episcopus  Lucanio. 


370 


APPENDIX. 


V 


■M 


by  days  of  peace,  replete  with  tranquillity  and  all  other  blessing. 
,  Such  days,  venerable  orothers,  our  prayers  most  ardently  solicit  for 
vou,  entertaining,  as  we  do  towards  you  all,  the  tenderest  feelings  of 
love  and  chaiitv,  in  return  for  your  merits  towards  the  Catholic  church, 
and  for  the  zeal  and  reverence  you  have  ever  manifested  to  this  apos- 
tolical see.  In  pledge  whereof  and  with  the  strongest  expression  of 
our  dearest  regard,  we  hereby  bestow  on  you,  our  venerable  brothers, 
and  on  the  whole  Irish  people,  our  apostolical  benediction.  Dated 
Rome,  at  St  Mary  Majors,  February  1, 1816,  in  the  sixteenth  year  of 
our  pontificate. 

^  PIUS  P.  P.  vn. 

Agreeable  to  the  manuscript,  so  far  as  above  given. 

J.  Thos.  Trot,  R.  C.  of  Dublin. 


y^    M 


.*■• 


u 


■fi'f'^  -       '     ■" 


1 


i*         tj    1    /•  y' 


X   ^"iJ^^  *, 


AKPESmX* 


371 


•vfeljJSfe^; 


NO.  V. 


;,> 


CAREY'S    ANALYSIS    OP    THE    ALLEGED 
MASSACRE    OF   1641. 


-»•■■ 


From  the  Yindicin  Hibemica. 


Was  there  really  a  I/xaMacre  of  the  Protestants  in  i6il '^ -^  UhparaUeled 
Exaggeration. — More  Protestants  pretended  to  be  killed  than  there  were 
on  the  Island.  —  TempU.  —  Rapin.  —  Hume.  —  Clarendon.  —  Conclu- 
sive Evidence  drawn  from  Sir  William  Petty.  —  Cartels  and  Warner's 
Refutation  of  the  legend. 


y  ' 

Mi 


**  Falsehood  and  fraud  grow  up  in  every  aoil» 
The  product. of  all  climes."  —  Addison. 


Although  I  have  already  in  a  former  chapter  incidentally  touched 
on  the  numbers  said  to  be  massacred  by  the  Irish  in  the  insurrection 
of  1641, 1  think  it  proper  to  resume  the  subject,  and  go  into  it  some-> 
what  more  at  length,  as  it  is  a  cardinal  point  in  the  vindication  I  have 
undertaken. 

In  order  to  proceed  correctly  in  the  investigation,  I  shall  let  the 
accusers  narrate  their  own  tales,  in  order  to  ascertain  what  is  the  sum 
and  substance  of  the  allegations.  .^ 

"  The  depopulations  in  this  province  of  Munster  do  well  near  equal 
**  those  of  me  whole  kingdom!!!^  —  Temple,  103. 

"  There  being,  since  the  rebellion  first  broke  out,  unto  the  time  of 
"  the  cessation  made  September  15, 1643,  which  was  not  full  twoyeara 
"  after,  above  300,000  British  and  Protestants  crudly  murdered  in  cold 
"  blood !  destroyed  'some  other  way,  or  expelled  out  of  their  habita. 
'  tions,  according  to  the  strictest  conjttucture  and  computation  of  tho.>4 
"  who  seemed  best  to  understand  the  numbers  of  English  planted  i!i 
"  Ireland,  besides  those  few  which  fell  in  the  heat  of  fight  during  the, 
*^  war."  —  Idein,  6.  ,  * 

"  Above  154,000  Protestants  were  massacred  in  that  kingdom  from 
"the  23d  October  to  the  Ist March  following."  —  Rapin,  IX.  343. 

"  By  some  computations,  those  who  perished  by  all  these  cruelties 
"  are  supposed  to  be  150  or  200,000.  By  the  most  moderate,  and 
"  probably  the  most  reasonable  account,  they  are  made  to  amount  to 
"  forty  thousand !  if  this  estimation  it(  elf  be  not,  as  is  usual  in  such 
"  cases,  somewhat  exaggerated!"  — Ht7ME,  III.  545. 

"  A  general  insurrection  of  the  Irish  spread  itself  over  the  whole 
"  country,  in  such  an  inhuman  and  barbarous  manner,  that  there  were 
"  forty  or  fUly  thousand  of  the  English  Protestants  murderedy  befart 
"  £^  9u»pedtsd  timMtbtts  to  be  in  anydangiar,  or  cduM  provide  for  taeir 


\  ■   V 


wz 


APPENDIX. 


'  / 


"  defence,  by  drawing  together  into  towns  or  strong  houses."  — - 
^  indon's  E.  II.  .  41 


Clar* 


That  "  Saul  slew  his  thousands,  and  David  his  tens  of  thouaands," 
was,  in  "  olden  time,"  suug  by  the  women  of  Israel.  Every  Philistine 
was  magnified  into  tfn,  every  ton  into  a  hundred,  and  every  hundred 
into  a  thousand.  But  the  amplifying  pov/ers  of  the  Jewish  women  fade 
into  insignificance  when  compared  with  those  of  the  An^lo-Hibemian 
writers.  Every  Englishman  that  fell  in  battle,  or  otherwise,  was  mur- 
dered. Every  man  was  magnified  into  a  hundred,  every  ten  into  a 
thousand,  and  every  hundrea  into  ten  thousand. 

Such  a  spirit  of  exaggeration  has  prevailed,  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  in  all  ages.  Even  in  common  occurrences,  hardly  calculated 
to  excite  any  interest,  we  daily  find  that  the  statements  (>f  current 
events  are  so  highly  colored,  as  to  differ  full  as  much  from  the  reality 
as  the  countenance  of  a  meretricious  courtezan,  who  has  exhausted  her 
stores  of  carmine  and  white  lead,  differs  from  the  blooming  countenance 
of  an  innocent  country  damsel,  who  depends  wholly  on  the  pure  orna- 
ments of  beneficent  nature.  This  being  undeniably  the  case  where 
no  temptetion  to  deception  exists,  how  dreadful  must  be  the  falsehood 
and  delusion  in  the  present  case,  where  ambition,  avarice,  malice,  big- 
otry, national  hatred,  and  all  the  othor  dire  passions  that  assimilate 
men  to  demons,  were  goaded  into  activity ! 

In  all  other  cases  but  that  of  the  history  of  Ireland,  to  convict  a 
witness  of  gross,  palpable,  and  notorious  falsehood,  would  be  sufficient 
to  invalidate  the  whole  of  his  evidence ;  but  such  has  been  the  way- 
ward fate  of  that  country,  that  the  most  ffross  and  manifest  forgeries, 
which  carry  their  own  condemnation  with  them,  are  received  oy  the 
the  world  as  though  they  were 


'  Confirmation  strong  as  proofs  of  holy  writ." 


m 


Or  when  some  are  found  too  monstrous  to  be  admitted,  their  falsehood 
and  absurdity  do  not  impair  the  public  credulity  ii  the  rest  of  the  tales 
depending  on  the  same  authority.  , 

The  materials  for  Irish  statistics,  at  that  early  period,  are  rate ;  B 
deficiency  which  involves  this  subject  in  considerable  difficulty.  Were 
correct  tables  of  the  population  of  Ireland  to  be  had,  the  task  wo»ild 
be  comparatively  easy ;  and  I  could  put  down  all  those  tales  v;ith  as 
much  ease  as  I  have  stamped  the  seal  of  flagrant  falsehood  on  the  many 
impostures  already  investigated. 

But  I  avail  myself  of  a  sound  rule,  to  employ  the  best  evidence  that 
the  nature  and  circumstances  of  the  case  will  admit ;  and  there  are, 
fortunately,  some  important  data  on  which  to  reason,  in  tho  present 
instance,  and  to  shed  the  light  of  truth  on  this  intricate  question,  and 
dispel  the  dense  clouds  with  which  it  has  been  environed  by  fraud  and 
imposture. 

Sir  Willian.  Petty,  the  ancestor  of  the  Lansdowne  family,  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  princely  fortune  m  the  depredations  perpetrated  on  the 
Irish  atbr  the  insurrection  of  1641.  Of  course,  he  had  no  temptation 
to  swerve  from  the  truth  in  their  favor ;  on  tJie  contrary,  it  was  hifl 


-fca 


APPENDIX. 


373 


Interest,  equally  with  the  other  possessors  of  the  estates  of  the  plun- 
dered Irish,  to  exaggerate  their  real  crimes,  and  to  lend  the  countenance 
of  his  reputation  to  their  pretended  ones.  Hence  his  testimony,  on  this 
^rouiid,  and  as  a  contemporary,  cannot,  so  far  as  it  tends  to  exonerate 
those  upon  whose  ruin  he  raised  his  immense  estate,  he  excepted 
against  by  the  enemies  of  the  Irish.  I  shall  therefore  freely  cite  him 
in  the  case ;  and  the  reader  will  at  once  perceive  to  what  an  extent 
delusion  has  been  carried  on  this  subject. 

He  states  the  aggregate  number  of  the  Protestants  who  perished  in 
eleven  years,  to  have  been  112,000,  [Petty,  18,]  of  whom  "  two  thirds 
were  cut  off  by  war,  plague,  and  famine."  It  is  obvious  to  the  meanest 
capacity,  if,  of  112,000,  the  whole  number  that  fell  in  that  space  of 
time,  two  thirds  were  cut  off  "  by  war,  plague,  and  famine,"  that  those 
who  fell  out  of  war,  in  eleven  years,  were  only  37,000 !  I  hope  to  prove 
that  even  this  statement,  so  comparatively  moderate,  is  most  extrava- 
gantly beyond  the  truth. 

Sir  William  confutes  himself,  beyond  the  power  of  redemption. 

"  Mark  how  a  plain  talc  shall  put  him  down." 

He  bequeathed  to  posterity  some  statistical  tables,  which  throw  con- 
siderable light  on  this  subject.  They  are  very  meagre,  it  is  true ;  but, 
meagre  as  they  Ire,  I  believe  there  are  no  others ;  at  all  eventSj  I  know 
of  none,  and  must  therefore  avail  myself  of  them. 

He  informs  us,  that  the  population  of  Ireland,  in  1641,  was  1,4(3(5,000,* 
and  that  the  relative  proportion  of  the  Protestants  to  the  Catholics 
was  as  two  to  eleven  ;t  of  course,  it  follows,  that  the  population 
was  tlms  divided:  about  1,241,000  Roman  Catholics,  and  225,000 
Protestants. 
''  Prom  this  concluuion  there  is  no  appeal. 

The  supplies  of  people  from  England  and  Scotland,  until  after  the 
final  defeat,  capture,  condemnation,  and  death  of  Charles  I.,  were  in- 
considerable ;  t  and  surely  it  is  iinpossible  for  a  rational  being  to 
believe,  that  out  of  225,000  there  could  have  been  112,000  destroyed, 
and  the  residue  been  able  to  baffle  and  defeat  the  insurgents,  who  com- 
prised the  great  mass  of  the  nation.  It  will  therefore,  I  trust,  be 
allowed,  as  an  irresistible  conclusion,  that  Sir  William  Potty's  calcu- 
lation, although  so  far  more  moderate  than  ai  ■  jif  the  "  tales  yf  terror" 
quuted  at  the  commencement  of  this  chapter,  is  most  extravagantly 
overrated,  probably  trebled,  quadrupled,  or  quintupled ;  and  must,  of 
absolute  necessity,  be  extravagantly  false. 

But  even  admitting  it  to  be  correct,  what  an  immens'?  difference 


•  "  This  shows  there  were,  in  1641,  1  vil^.OOO  people."  —  Ibid 
t  For  the  present  I  admit  this  proponion;  as,  however    ;:>'.'gerated 
the  nxunber  of  the  Protestants  may  be,  it  does  not  affect  tii~  point  ttt 
issue.    But,  from  various  circumstances,  it  is  doubtful  whether  there  wns 
one  Protestent  to  eleven  Eoman  Catholics. 

X  More  Protestants,  it  is  highly  probable,  removed  from  Ireland  duiii^ 
the  progress  of  the  war,  than  the  nvjnber  of  soldiers  who  were  8fat 
thither  from  England.      '  *  »»  •  "^^  '"■'  '^» 

32 


^74 


APPENDIX. 


between  37,000  in  eleven  years,  and  the  numbers  so  confidently 
stated  by  the  various  writeia  of  Irish  history!  What  astonishment 
must  be  excited  by  Burton's  300,000  in  a  few  months;  Temple's 
300,000  in  less  than  two  years ;  May's  200,000  in  one  month ;  War- 
wick's 100,000  in  one  week;  or  iiapm's  40,000  in  a  few  (Iiljh  I  Sincly 
there  is  not,  in  tiie  history  of  the  world,  any  parallel  case  of  mch  grosii, 
palpable,  shocking,  and  abominable  deception.  Cai<  lawru^ge  l)« 
found  strong  or  bold  enou^^h  to  mark  the  dishonor  of  th^'s  who 
knowingly  propagated  such  faieehoods,  or  the  folly,  or  neglect,  or  wick- 
edness of  those  who  adopted  and  gave  them  cur  tncy  ?  Thek  aamee 
ought  to  be  held  up  as  "  a  hisising  and  lepn  ach,'  to  deter  others  from 
following  in  their  foul  and  loetbfiome  track  of  caluumy  ant]  deception. 
On  the  subject,  of  the  number  of  victii  ui  ?f  the  pretended  massacre, 
the  observations  of  Carte  are  so  judicious  aod  unanswerable  ^hat  they 
would  be  sufficient,  independent  of  the  other  eviderce  I  V  uve  produced, 
50  piit  down  forevs^r  those  miserablr  legends  about  so  maiiy  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  the  Pi  vteatants  cut  oflF  in  a  few  vyeeius,  or  month  :»r 
j  ear^.  audio  iitarnp  on  the  foreheads  of  their  auth  rs  the  brotifl  seal  of 
outrageoue  iirrios^uro.  He  states,  tiiat  the  extravagant  numbers  asserted 
to  be  maysac.'od,  ^ar^  "more  thon  Ihere  were  of  English^  at  that  time, 
in  all  lreiaiid,''^—'Gs&x&f  1. 177. 

.  "  It  m  certain  ttia.  tiie  gmot  body  of  the  English  wat*  settled  in  Mun- 
"  ster  i>iid  I^eiiister,  where  very  few  murders  were  commiUted ;  and  that 
"  in  Ulster,  which  was  the  aianud  scene  of  the  massacre,  there  were 
"  above  100,000  Scots,  who,  before  the  general  plantation  of  it,  had 
"  settle  I  in  great  numbers  in  the  counties  of  Down  and  Antrim,  and 
"  new  shoals  of  them  had  come  over  upon  the  plantation  of  the  six 
"  escheated  counties ;  and  they  were  so  very  powerful  therein,  that  the 
"  Irish,  either  out  of  fear  of  tMir  numbers,  or  some  other  polUic  reason, 
"  spared  those  of  that  nation,  tii/iJdng  proclamation,  on  pain  of  death,  that 
''^  mt  Scotchman  should  be  r.iokMed  in  body,  goods,  or  lands,  whilst  they 

raged  with  so  much  cruelty  against  the  English."  ^ — Ibid. 

'*  It  cannot,  therefore,  reasonably  be  presumed  that  there  were  at 
"  most  above  20,000  English  soule,  of  all  ager  and  sexes,  in  Ulster  at 
"  tjiat  time ;  and  of  these,  as  appears  by  the  lords  justices'  letter,  there 
"  were  several  thousands  got  safe  to  Dublin,  and  were  subsisted  therefor 
'*  many  months  afterwards,  besides  6000  women  and  children,  which 
"  Captain  Mervyn  saved  in  Fermanagh ;  and  others  that  got  safe  to 
"  Derry,  Coierain,  and  Carrickfergus,  and  went  from  those  and  other 
"  ports  into  England."  —  Idem^ 

It  is  impossible  to  reconcile  the  latter  part  of  the  above  quotations 
with  the  rest ;  a  case,  as  we  have  repeatedly  stated,  that  incessantly 
occurs  in  Irish  histories.  The  author  informs  us,  on  nv.  -nd  grounds, 
that  there  were  ^*not  more  then  20,000  English  in  Uh.'  '  that  ^'-sev- 
eral thousand  got  safe  to  Dublin ; "  that  "  6000  wor  W  children 
wt'",  saved  in  Fermar'^'^h;"  and  that  "  others  got  saj  '  ^erry.  Cole- 
rai,^,  and  Cfxrrickferv  "  These  all-important  >;  .  aclusive  fac!s 
he  connects  with  e  ■•  imentof  "the  extreme  '•..7/;%  "^ith  which  the 
insurgents  raged  against  the  English,"  and  with  &  !  ,dce  of  the  *^diamal 


APPENDIX. 


375 


scene  of  the  massacre"  the  subjects  of  which  massacre  aro  not  very 
easily  found,  and,  at  all  events,  could  not  have  been  very  numerous ; 
for,  let  us  add  together  "  several  thousands,"  and  "  60(JO,"  and  the 
"  others  "  who  "  got  safe  "  into  the  specified  towns,  where  there  were 
numerous  garrisons ;  where,  of  course,  in  a  time  of  violence  and  com- 
motion the  inhabitants  of  the  circumjacent  country  would  naturally 
seek  refuge,  and  where,  it  is  not  extravagant  to  suppose,  that  "  the 
others,'^  \dio  thus  "got  safe,"  might  have  amounted  to  some  thousands : 
let  us  then  deduct  the  aggregate  from  20,000,  the  total  number  of  Eng- 
lish, and  we  shall  find  a  slender  remainder.  But  the  plain  fact  is,  tliat 
the  writers  on  this  subject  are  so  haunted  by  the  idea  of  a  massacre, 
that  although  it  rests  on  the  sandy  foundation  of  forgery  and  perjury, 
as  shall  be  fully  proved  in  the  sequel,  and  although  many  of  their  own 
statements,  in  the  most  unequivocal  manner,  give  it  the  lie  direct,  their 
minder  cannot  be  divested  of  the  terrific  object  These  passages  from 
Carte  furnish  a  strong  case  in  point.  The  most  ardent  friend  of  Ire- 
land could  not  desire  a  much  more  complete  proof  of  the  fallacy  of  the 
accounts  of  the  pretended  massacre  than  is  here  given  by  this  author 
himself,  who,  nevertheless,  wonderful  to  tell !  appears  to  resist  the  evi- 
dence of  his  own  facts,  and  to  be  blind  to  the  obvious  inference  to 
which  they  inevitably  lead.  * 

Ferdinando  Warner,  a  clergyman  of  the  church  of  England,  appears 
to  have  been  the  only  writer  who  has  gone  into  any  elaborate  investi- 
gation of  the  legendary  tales  of  the  pretended  massacre ;  and  his  views 
of  the  subject  well  deserve  the  most  serious  attention  of  the  reader. 
After  stating  the  uncertainty  of  the  accounts,  and  the  consequent  diffi- 
culty cf  making  an  exact  estimate,  he  pronounces  a  strong  and  une- 
quivocal sentence  of  condemnation  on  the  Munchausen  tales  we  are 
combating ;  and  avers,  that 

"  It  is  easy  enough  to  demonstrate  the  falsehood  of  the  relaiion  of  every 
"  Protestant  historian  of  this  rebellion"  —  Warner,  296. 

He  proceeds  to  render  a  satisfactory  account  of  the  grounds  on 
which  this  statement  rests. 

"  To  any  one  who  considers  how  thinly  Ireland  was  ai  tJiat  time  peopled 
"  hy  xroicstants,  and  the  province  of  Ulster  particularly^  where  was  the 
"  chief  scene  ^f  the  massacre^  those  relations  upon  the  face  op 

"  THEM   APPEAR   INCREDIBIiE." Ibid. 

"  Setting  aside  all  opinions  and  calculations  in  this  affair,  which, 
"  besides  their  uncertainty,  are  without  any  precision  as  to  the  space  of 
"  time  in  which  the  murders  were  committed,  the  evidence  from  the 
"  depositions  in  the  manuscript  above  mentioned  stands  thus :  The 
im''er  of  pt'iple  killed,  upon  positive  evidence,  collected  in  two 
*'  ;udt3  ^frr^Lho  insurrection  broke  out,  adding  them  all  together, 
"  amounts  onh  to  two  Lhousand  one  hundred  and  nine ;  on  the  repo'ts 
"  of  other  Protestants,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and.  nineteen  more ;  and 
"  on  the  report  of  some  of  he  rebels  tnemselved,  r  iuxther  number  of 
"  three  hundred  -•  the  whole  makiug  four  thousand  and  twenty-eight. 
"  Besides  these  murdors,  there  is,  in  the  same  collection,  evidence,  on 
"  'he  ireport  of  others,  of  eight  thousand  killed  by  ill  usage ;  and  if  we 


« 


■y 


37B 


APPENDIX. 


\ 


/ 


"  should  *illow  that  the  craelties  of  the  Irish  out  of  war  extended  to 
**  these  numbers,  which,  considering  the  nature  of  several  of  the  depo- 
"  sitions,  /  think  in  my  conscience  toe  cannot,  yet  to  be  impartial  we 
"  must  allow  that  there  i$  no  pretence  for  laying  a  greater  number  to 
"  thdr  charge.  This  account  is  also  corroborated  by  a*letter,  which  I 
"  copied  out  of  the  council  books  at  Dublin,  written  on  the  fiflh  of 
"  May,  sixteen  hundred  and  fifty-two,  ten  years  after  the  beginning  of 
"  the  rebellion,  from  the  Parliament  commissioners  in  Ireland  to  the 
"  English  Parliament  After  exciting  them  to  further  severity  against 
"  the  Irish,  as  being  afraid  '  their  behavior  towards  this  people  may 
"  never  sufficiently  avenge  their  murders  and  massacres,  and  lest  the 
"  Parliament  might  shortly  be  in  pursuance  of  a  speedy  settlement  of 
"  this  nation,  and  thereby  some  tender  concessions  might  be  con- 
"  eluded,'  the  commissioners  tell  them  that  it  appears  '  besides  eight 
"  hundred  forty-eight  families,  there  were  killed,  hanged,  'burned,  and 
"  drowned,  six  thousand  and  sixty-two. ' "  —  Warnke,  297. 

Thus  I  close  this  subject  with  stating,  that  these  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands are  reduced  by  Carte  to  20,000,  less  "  several  thousands "  and 
"  6000  women  and  children,"  and  "others ;"  and  by  Warner  to  about 
12,000,  of  whom  only  4028  were  murdered,  a  large  portion  of  which 
detail,  "  in  his  conscience  "  he  cannot  allow !  Would  it  not  be  an  in- 
sult to  the  reader  to  offer  another  word  to  prove  the  utter  falsehood 
of  all  the  terrific  statements  given  of  the  subject,  whe.reby  the  world 
has  been  so  long  and  so  grossly  deceived  ? 


m 


// 


APPENDIX. 


377 


. >i.    ',.  *;i.,,.i  ,.t. 


,1     ' ' 


%0.  VI. 


'■\ 


\  ': 


LIST    OP  ABBEYS,   PRIORIES,   &c.    IN    IRE- 
LAND, 

Confiscated,  seized  on,  or  alienated,  by  the   Protestant 
"  Reformation  "  Sovereigns  and  Parliaments.* 


ANTRIM  (County). 

At  BcUlycastk.  An  abbey,  when  founded  is  not  known,  but  it  seems, 
from  an  inscription  on  a  chapel  that  had  been  built  in  the  year  1612, 
by  Randal  McDonnell,  Earl  of  Antrim,  that  the  abbey  stood  until  the 
loformation. 

At  Bonamargv.  A  monastery,  founded,  during  the  fifteenth  centu- 
ry, by  McDonnell ;  granit  J  to  his  apostate  descendants. 

At  Carrickfergwi  A  Franciscan  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  1232, 
by  Hugh  Lac^,  Earl  of  Ulster ;  granted  to  Sir  Arthur  Chichester ;  is 
now  the  mansion  of  the  Earls  of  Donegal. 

Chiain.  An  abbey,  built,  in  the  early  ages,  by  St  Olcar ;  new  the 
Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Gtenarm.  A  Fianciscan  abbey,  built,  in  the  year  1465,  by  Rob- 
ert Bisset,  a  Scotchman;  granted  to  AlexdndQi^McDoiA'ie]!,  ancestor 
to  the  Earl  of  Antrim. 

At  Goodbom,  A  Premonstratensian  priory,  founded  ao.  :  ^he 
year  1242;  surrendered,  in  the  year  1542,  to  the  commissioner j  of 
Henry  VIH. 

At  Kells,  or  Diseri.  A  priory,  founded  in  the  year  1200 ;  surren- 
dered, in  the  year  1542,  to  the  commissioners  of  Henry  VIH. 

At  KUitragh.  A  church  built  by  St.  Patrick ;  now  the  Protestant 
place  of  worship. 

At  Lambeg.  A  IVanciscan  monaster/,  founded,  by  McDonnell, 
about  the  year  1500. 

At  Lhannavach.  The  Church  of  the  Dwarf,  founded  by  St.  Patrick ; 
now  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Masaartene.  A  Franciscan  abbey, founded, about  tiic  ^^^r  1500; 
by  O'Neil ;  granted,  in  the  year  1621,  to  Sir  Arthur  Ci)V3i.e^L(?r,  Baron 
of  Belfast 

At  Muckamore.  A  m  nastery,  founded,  in  the  year  550,  by  St  Col- 
rsi-in ;  surrendered,  after  having  been,  for  many  ages,  the  light  of  the 
world,  the  nursery  of  .^aints  and  of  learning,  to  Henry  VIII. ;  granted, 
in  tbf>  year  1639,  to  the  Tjongford  family. 

A  t  KcuMin  Island,    a  church,  founded,  in  the  year  546,  by  St.  Co- 

*  Jro^x  Cobbett's  "  History  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  in  England 
and  Irelantl." 


/■ 


Nri 


JiS»S2" 


4 
378 


APPENDIX. 


V 


lamb.  This  house,  celebrated  for  Icarninff  and  sanctity,  stood  in  the 
year  1558,  when  the  Earl  of  Essex,  lord  deputy,  gained  possession  of 
the  island. 

At  Rathmoane.  A  church,  founded,  by  St  Patrick,  for  his  disciple 
St.  Ereclasius  ;  now  tho  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

Rathmuighey  (on  t'  >  ^  «  0;*^,  ei^t  miles  from  Dunliifsia,  or  Dun- 
luce.)    A  monastor^    "q>x..^'     bv  St  Patrick. 

At  TuUtch.  A  hurch,  built  by  St.  Patrick  for  St  Nohemias,  in  the 
diocese  of  CoTinor ;  now  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

Besides  the.^e,  there  are  upwards  of  thirty  religious  houses  on 
record,  which  were  principally  founded  by  SU  Patrick  in  this  county, 
but  they  are  omitted  because  there  is  no  proof  that  they  subsisted  unul 
the  reformation. 


ARMAGH  (County). 

At  ,^magh.  An  Augustine  abbey,  built,  in  the  year  457,  by  St 
Patrici'.. 

A  priijry  of  the  Culdei,  or  choristers  of  the  cathedral,  had,  for  reve- 
nu.;rt,  seven  ballyboes,  or  town  lands,  worth  £46,  now  worth  £920. 
Sir  Toby  Caulfieid,  Lord  Charlemount,  received,  in  the  year  1620,  the 
rents  for  Henry  VHI. 

Temple  F^'Hagh,  founded,  by  St.  Patrick,  for  St.  Lupita,  his  eldest 
sister,  who  was  buried  here;  granted,  in  the  year  1618,  by  King 
James,  to  Pn-ncis  Annesley,  Es*^. 

A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  m  the  year  1261,  by  Archbi';'.  p  Scan 
Ion.    Solomon  McConny  was  superior  in  1583,  when  the  reformation 
was  completed. 

Ctonfeafdej  that  is,  the  Church  of  the  Tooth,  — so  named  from  a  tooth 
of  St.  Patrick,  wliich  was  preserved  here,  —  is  now  the  Protestant 
place  of  worship ;  five  miles  from  Armagh. 

At  KUmore.  A  church,  founded  by  St  Mochtee ;  now  the  Protes- 
tant place  of  worship ;  thret.  miles  from  Armagh. 

At  Kilslert.  A  Frapciscan  monaHtery.  Thomas  Omay  was  supe- 
rior in  the  year  14 '>7, 

At  KUlevy.  A  nunnery,  built,  about  the  year  517,  by  St  Donerca, 
otherwise  called  Monena,  sister  to  St  Patrick,  at  the  foot  of  Sliev 
Gullen ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

.^^t  Strddhaillmise.  A  Franciscan  monastery^  founded  in  the  year 
1682. 

There  are  five  religious  foundations  of  St.  Patrick  bnd  his  disciples 
omitted  in  this  county,  as  in  the  preceding.  ,    ,, 


CARLO W  (County).  „  .. 

At  Atfiaddy.  An  Augustine  uunnery,  founded,  in  the  year  1151,  by 
Dermot,  son  of  Murchard,  King  of  Leinster. 

At  Bally  McWilUam  Roe,  near  Clonegall.  A  preceptory  of  Tem- 
plars, founded  about  the  year  1300. 

At  KiUarge,    A  preceptory  of  Templars,  (which  was  afterwards 


St;., 


■>j(ak,- 


n. 


APPENDIX. 


y79 


granted  to  the  Kniffhts  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,)  founded,  in  the  rei^ 
of  King  John,  by  Uilbert  de  Borard ;  granted,  1590,  by  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, to  the  wife  of  Gerard  Aylmer. 

At  LeAghHny  a  town,  formerly,  of  considerable  note.  The  great 
abbey,  founded  by  St  Gobban,  celebrated  tor  the  synod  held  there,  in 
the  vear  630,  regarding  the  celebration  of  Ea«ter.  St  Laserian,  abbot 
in  633,  had,  at  one  time,  fifloun  hundred  inonks  under  liim ;  ho 
was  consecrated  bishop  by  Pope  Uonorius,  and  waa  legate  ftom  the 
holy  see. 

JLeighlin  Bridge.  A  Carmelite  monastery,  founded,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.,  by  one  of  the  Carew  family  ;  had  manv  endowments  and 
privileges  from  Kings  Henry  III.,  Richard  II.,  and  Henry  IV. ;  waa 
finally  converted,  at  the  suppression,  into  a  fort 

At  Si.  Midlines.  An  abbey  of  Augustines,  founded,  in  the  year 
632,  by  St.  Moling;  plundered  and  burnt  before  the  year  1138. 

At  Tvllagh.  An  Augustine  abbey,  built,  in  the  reign  of  Edward 
II.,  on  a  grant  of  land  made  by  Simon  Lumbard  and  Hugh  Tallon ; 
granted,  1557,  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  to  Thomas,  Earl  of  Ormond. 


li^ 


'  ".fa 


CAVAN  (CouNTT). 

At  Ballylinch,  A  hospital ;  when  founded,  by  whom,  and  with  what 
endowments,  is  unknown ;  granted,  by  King  James,  1605,  to  Sir  Ed- 
ward Moore,  ancestor  to  the  Earl  of  Drogheda,  for  threepence  yearly 
rent. 

At  Cavan.  A  Dominican  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1300,  by 
Ciiolla  O'Reilly,  of  the  dynasty  of  Breffiny  ;  stood  until  the  general 
dissolution,  but  there  are  not  now  the  least  remains  of  it 

At  Dromlomman.  A  hospital,  leased,  by  King  James,  to  Sir  Ed- 
ward Moore,  for  2».  6rf.  yearly  rent. 

At  Drumlane,  or  Drumldnan.  A  monastery,  founded,  before  the 
year  550,  as  some  suppose,  by  St  Maidoc,  because  he  was  bom  in  that 
year ;  granted,  13  Elizabeth,  to  Hugh  O'Reilly,  head  of  the  Brenie 
sept,  for  the  term  of  twenty-one  years,  at  the  rent  of  £8  14».  8rf.,  now 
worth  £174  13«.  id. 

At  KUlachad.  An  abbey,  founded,  before  the  year  800,  by  St  Ti- 
gernach,  who  was  buried  there  in  the  year  805;  plundered  by  the 
English  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II. 

At  Kilmore.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  sixth  contwry,  by  St.  Columb ; 
now  the  Protestant  bishop's  see. 

At  Lough  Oughter.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  1237,  by  Clarus 
M.  Moylin,  Archdeacon  of  Elphin ;  granted,  1570,  by  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, to  Hugh  O'Reilly,  of  the  Brenie,  head  of  his  sept,  for  twenty-one 
years,  at  the  rent  of  £2  15*.  8rf.,  now  worth  £55  13*.  Ad.  Perhaps 
lie  was  ejected  for  non-payment  of  rent ;  for,  by  an  inquisition  taken 
27  Elizabeth,  he  was  found  in  arrears  for  eleven  and  8  half  years'  rent, 
for  this  and  the  monastery  of  Drumlan,  above  said. 

At  Mounterconaght.  An  endowed  hospital,  granteu,  by  King  James, 
to  Sir  Edward  Moore,  at  Is.  Sd.  yearly  rent,  now  worth  £1  55.  See 
Ballylinch.  -^ 


380 


APPENDIIL. 


CLARE  (CouifTx). 

At  Clare.  An  Auf^stino  abboy,  founded,  in  the  year  1105,  by 
Donald  O'Brien,  King  of  Limerick ;  granted,  16(31,  to  llonry.  Earl  of 
Thoinond. 

At  Corcumroe.  A  Cistercian  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  1194,  and 
largely  endowed,  by  Donald  O'Brien,  King  of  Limerick ;  granted  to 
Richard  Harding. 

At  Ennis.  A  monastery  of  Franciscans,  built,  in  the  year  1340,  by 
Donagh  Carbrac  O'Brien  ;  it  is  the  place  of  interment  of  tlio  family  of 
the  O'Briens  ;  granted,  1621,  to  William  Dongan,  Esq. ;  is  now  the 
Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Olan  Choluimchille.  An  abbey,  founded  by  St.  Columb ;  is.now 
a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in  the  diocese  of  Kilfcnora. 

At  Inchycronantj  an  island  on  the  River  Shannon.  A  monastery, 
founded  in  the  year  1190,  by  Donald  O'Brien,  King  of  Limerick; 
granted,  1661,  to  Henry,  Earl  of  Thomond. 

At  Indtmorty  an  island  in  the  Shannon.  An  abbey,  founded  by  St. 
Senan,  who  placed  over  it  his  disciple,  St  Liberius. 

At  Iniaantaoi.  A  magnificent  abbey,  built,  in  the  year  1305,  by 
Turlogh,  King  of  Thomond,  where  he  is  buried. 

At  Iniskdtair,  an  island  in  Loughderg.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the 
year  653,  by  St.'  Camin,  who  is  interred  there.  This  island  is  one  of 
tiio  stations  for  pilgrimage  in  the  Loughderg. 

At  InisTUgananaghj  or  the  Island  of  Canons,  in  the  Shannon.  A 
priory  of  Augustines,  founded,  in  the  twelfth  century,  by  Donald 
O'Brien,  King  of  Limerick ;  granted,  1661,  to  Henry,  Earl  of  Thomond. 

At  Jniascaiteryf  a  rich  and  beautiful  island  in  the  mouth  of  the  Shannon. 
An  abbey,  founoed  by  St  Senan,  or,  as  some  suppose,  by  St  Patrick  him- 
self, who  appointed  over  it  St.  Senan;  he  had  eleven  churches  for 
friars,  and  allowed  no  women  to  come  into  the  island ;  granted,  20 
Elizabeth,  to  the  mayor  and  corporation  of  Limerick,  at  £3  12«.  8d. 
rent,  now  worth  £72  13«.  id.  This  island  is  a  great  resort  of  pilgrims, 
on  certain  festivals. 

At  Kiicarra^h,    A  monastery,  granted  to  John  King. 

At  Killoen,  in  the  barony  of  Islands.  A  nunnery,  built  in  the  year 
1190,  by  Doiukld  O'Brien,  of  Limerick.  Slaney,  daughter  of  Donogh, 
King  of  Thomond,  was  abbess,  and  died  in  1260.  She  excelled  all 
the  women  then  in  Munster  for  piety,  alms-deeds,  and  hospitality. 

At  KUshanny,  in  the  barony  of  Corcumroe.  A  monastery,  granted 
to  Robert  Hickman. 

At  Quin  or  Qutnc%,  five  miles  east  of  Ennis.  A  Franciscan  mon- 
astery, built,  in  the  year  1402,  by  McNamara ;  the  building  is  entirely 
of  black  marble  ;  granted,  1583)  to  Sir  Tirlagh  O'Brien,  of  Irishdyman. 
The  Roman  Catholics  repaired  this  monastery  in  1604. 

At  Shrculuffe.  An  abbey,  granted,  in  1611,  to  Sir  Edward  Fisher, 
together  with  its  site  and  possessions. 

At  Tomgrany,  four  miles  east  of  Loughderff.  An  abbey.  St 
Manchin,  abbot,  died  in  the  year  735.    It  is  now  the  church. 

Fifteen  religious  foundations,  of  the  early  ages,  in  this  county,  are 
omitted. 


appbndtx. 


381 


"Tiip,i 


> 


CORK  (Couwtt). 

At  Mhey  Mahon,  near  Timoleague,  bj  Count  McShernr-bty.  A 
Cifltorcian  monastery,  built  by  the  friara,  and  endowed,'  by  Lord 
Barry,  with  eighteen  .olouffhlanaa,  that  is,  the  whole  parish  of  Abbey 
Mahon,  which  wore  seized  by  the  crown. 

At  Ballybegj  near  Buttavant  An  Augustine  pnory,  founded,  in  the 
year  1!2S9,  by  Philip  de  Barry ;  the  steeple,  the  arcade  over  the  dome, 
remaining  yet,  together  with  the  traces  of  many  external  buildings, 
show  that  it  had  been  a  magnificent  structure ;  yearly  value,  £9(K),  now 
worth  £5300 :  granted,  16  Elizabeth,  for  21  years,  to  George  Boucher, 
Esq.,  who  forfeited  it  for  non-payment  of  rent ;  then  granted  to  the  wife 
of  Sir  Thomas  Norris,  governor  of  Munster. 

At  Ballymaccuiane,  four  miles  south  of  Cork,  on  the  Bandon  road. 
An  Augustine  nunnery,  founded,  in  the  year  1450,  by  Cormac 
McCarthy. 

At  Ballvournejfj  or  the  town  of  the  Beloved.  An  abbey,  or  nunnery, 
built,  in  the  year  650,  by  St.  Abban,  for  St.  Gobnata,  descendant  of 
O'Connor  the  Great,  monarch  of  Ireland ;  her  festival  is  on  the  14th 
February. 

At  Banirtf,  a  pretty  town  on  the  bay  of  that  name.  A  Franciscan 
monastery,  built,  in  the  year  1466,  by  Dcrmot  O'Sullivan  Beare ;  is 
now  demolished. 

At  Brieve  Toum,  on  the  Black  Water,  above  Fermoy.  A  priory, 
pleasantly  situated  in  a  deep  valley,  at  the  confluence  of  the  rivers 
Aubeg  and  Black  Water. 

At  Brigoione,  near  Miohelstown.    A  church,  founded  by  St.  Finchu. 

At  JBuWeran^i  formerly  a  corporate  town,  governed  by  a  mayor  and 
aldermen.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1290,  by 
David  Ogo  Barry,  Lord  Buttevant ;  the  walls  of  the  choir  and  nave  are 
yet  entire  ;  the  steeple,  a  high,  square  tower,  standing  on  a  fine  Gothic 
arch,  fell  in  1822.    There  is  a  beautiful  window  in  the  east  end. 

At  Cape  Clear.  An  island  on  the  south-west  coast  of  Ireland,  coi- 
taining  twelve  ploughlands,  three  hundred  houses,  and  about  twe'/r 
hundred  inhabitants. 

Ar  Carigiliky^  in  the  parish  of  Myros,  West  Carberry.   A  mona  it'^ry, 
built,  in  the  year  1172,  by  Dermot  McCarthy,  King  of  Desmo-i.. 
granted,  with  all  the  possessions,  30  Elizabeth,  to  Nicholas  Walshe, 
forever,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £28  63.  6d.y  now  worth  £566  10». 

At  Castle  Lyons.  A  Dominican  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year 
1307,  by  John  do  Barry.  The  Earl  of  Cork  obtained  the  possessions, 
and  bestowed  them  on  the  Countess  of  Barrymore,  his  daughter. 

A  Carmelite  abbey,  founded  in  the  Barry  family. 

At  Clonmcne,  in  Duhallow.  An  Augustine  monastery ;  founded  by 
Mr.  O'Callagan. 

At  Cloyne,  a  town  near  Youghal.  A  cathedral  monastery  and  nun- 
nery, destroyed ;  the  revenues  preserved  for  parsons. 

At  Cork.  A  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  600,  by  St.  Finbar ;  it 
is  recorded  that,  in  the  eighth  century,  seven  hundred  monks  and 
seventeen  bishops  were  living  there  a  contemplative  life ;  the  posses- 
sions were  granted,  33  EliziObeth,  to  Cormac  McCarthy  and  to  Sir 


382 


APPENDIX. 


Richard  Grenville ;  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  was  erected  on 
the  site. 

A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1214,  by  Dermot  McCar- 
thy Reagh ;  granted,  8  Elizabeth,  to  Andrew  Skydy,  at  £2  18s,  8d., 
now  worm  £58  13a.  Ad.  This  building  stood  on  the  north  side  of 
the  city. 

A  Dominican  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1229,  by  Philip  de  Barry ; 
it  stood  on  an  island  in  the  south  of  the  city  ;  granted,  35  Hen^  VIII., 
to  William  Boureman,  for  9s.  6d.  yearly  rent,  now  worth  £9  10*. 

An  Augustine  monastery,  founded,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  by 
Lord  Kinsale;  granted,  19  Elizabeth,  to  Cormac  McCarthy,  at  £13 
16s.  8rf.  yearly  rent,  now  worth  £276  13*.  4rf. ;  it  is  converted  into  a 
sugar  house,  now  called  the  red  abbey. 

A  nunnery,  founded,  by  William  de  Barry,  about  the  year  1327 ;  it 
is  thought  it  stood  where  the  market  house  now  is. 

A  preceptory  of  Templars  ;  built  in  the  year  1292. 

Priory  of  St  Stephen,  founded,  for  lepers,  before  the  year  1295 ; 
converted  into  the  Blue-coat  Hospital  in  1674. 

At  Donaghmore,  eight  miles  north-west  of  Cork.  A  monastery, 
founded,  by  St.  Fingene,  disciple  of  St.  Finbar ;  it  is  now  the  church. 

At  Fermoy^  a  large  town.  A  Cis^,erciau  abbey,  to  which  Maurice 
Fleming  was  a  benefactor;  granted,  33  Elizabeth,  to  Sir  Richard 
Grenville,  at  £15  18*.  4d.  yearly  rent,  now  worth  £318  6s.  3d. 

At  Glanworth.  A  Dominican  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1227, 
by  the  Roche's  family . 

At  Iniscara,  on  the  River  Lee,  five  miles  above  Cork.  An  abbey, 
built  by  St.  Senan  of  Iniscattery ;  dissolved. 

At  Inishircan,  near  Cape  Clear.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded, 
in  the  year  1460,  by  Florence  Moar  O'DriscoU ;  the  walls  and  steeple 
are  still  in  good  order. 

At  Kilbeacariy  in  Muscryciure.  A  large  monasteiy,  founded,  in  the 
year  650,  by  St.  Abban ;  St.  Beacon  presided  there. 

At  KUcrea.     A  nunnery,  where  St  Chera  was  abbess. 

A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1465,  by  Cormac 
McCarthy  Moor,  E^ng  of  Desmond ;  great  part  of  the  building  still 
remains  ;  granted,  by  Oliver  Cromwell,  1641,  to  Lord  Broghill. 

At  Kinsale.^  A  priory  of  regular  canons,  dedicated  to  St  Gobban. 

A  Carmelite  friary ;  when  founded  is  not  known ;  it  flourished 
in  1350. 

At  Legan.  A  monastery,  stood  in  the  year  1301 ;  at  the  suppres- 
sion of  religious  houses  the  prior  of  St  John,  in  Waterford,  was  seized 
of  this  house.  ;^., 

At  Lueim,  near  the  city  of  Cork.  A  monastery  of  which  David  de 
Cogan  was  patron  in  the  year  1318. 

At  Middleton.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  1180,  by  the  Fitz- 
geralds,  or,  as  some  think,  by  the  Barrys  ;  Gerald,  Bishop  of  Cloyne,, 
endowed  it  with  several  vicarages  in  1476. 

At  Monanimy,  on  the  Black  Water,  three  miles  below  Mallow.  A 
coinmandery,  for  the  support  of  which  the  parishes  of  Clenor,  Carrig- 
downen,  Carig,  and  Templebodane,  were  charged,  in  the  king's  books, 
with  £3  10*.  crown  rent^  now  worth  £70. 


-i  r-i^- 


.11' 
n 


APPENDIX. 


383 


At  Movme^  or  BaUynamona,  three  miles  south  of  Mallow,  on  the 
Cork  road.  A  preceptory,  first  of  Templars,  and  afterwards  of  Hos- 
pitalers, founded,  in  the  reign  of  John,  by  Alexander  de  Sancta  Helena. 

At  Ross  Carberry.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  590,  by  St. 
Fachnan  Mougah,  or  the  ftm'n/,  because  he  was  covered  with  hair  at  his 
birth ;  he  was  abbot  of  Molona,  in  the  county  of  Waterford,  also ;  a 
city  with  a  large  seminary  grown  up  here.  It  was  also  an  episcopal 
see.    This  diocese  is  now  jomed  to  the  diocese  of  Cloyne. 

At  Timoleague,  in  the  barony  of  Barryroe,  eight  miles  west  of  Kin- 
sale.  An  abbey  of  Franciscans,  founded  at  Cregan,  and  translated 
hither,  in  the  year  1279,  by  William  Barry,  Lord  of  Ibaun.  At  the 
suppression,  the  possessions  fell  to  Lord  Inchiquin.  The  walls,  arcades, 
and  tower  are  still  in  good  order. 

At  Tradon,  two  miles  south  of  Carigline.  A  Cistercian  abbey, 
built,  in  the  year  1224,  by  McCarthy ;  great  numbers  of  pilgrims  re- 
sorted hither,  on  Holy  Thursday,  to  venerate  the  holy  cross ;  granted, 
by  Queen  El\^abeth,  1568,  \.o  Sir  James  Craig  and  Henry  Guilford ;  the 
former  assigned  it  to  the  Earl  of  Cork. 

At  Weeme,  near  Cork.  An  Augustine  priory,  stood  at  the  fourteenth 
century,  and,  without  doubt,  until  the  general  dissolution. 

At  xoughal,  a  large  seaport  town.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  built, 
m  the  year  1224,  by  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  Ireland, 
who  died  and  was  buried  in  1257,  after  having  spent  many  years  here 
under  the  habit  of  a  monk.  This  house  stood  to  the  south  of  the  town ; 
there  are  no  traces  of  it  now. 

A  Dominican  friary,  built  to  the  north,  in  the  year  1208,  by  Maurice, 
descendant  of  Lord  Offaly  ;  granted,  23  Elizabeth,  to  William  Walsh, 
at  1«.  \0d.  yearly  rent,  now  worth  £1  16s.  8d. 


;A  ..'rtr.'!' 


■■'I'jp,  .*. 


vt  ■-•  •.;v:„-.  •   DERRY  (County).        ^-  -a:-)-*.. 

At  Arragell,  in  the  barony  of  Coleraine.  A  monastery,  founded  by 
St  Columb,  to  which  the  Protestant  place  of  worship  has  succeeded. 

At  Badoney,  in  Glaun  Aide,  two  miles  from  Deny.  A  church, 
founded  by  St.  Patrick. 

At  Coleraine.  A  priory  of  regular  canons,  founded,  it  is  thought,  by 
St.  Carbreus,  a  disciple  of  S-t.  Finiau  of  Clonard. 

A  Dominican  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1244,  by  the  O'Cahanes; 
Shane  O'Boyle,  the  last  prior,  surrendered  it  to  the  king's  commission- 
ers, 1st  January,  1542. 

At  Derry.  An  Augustine  abbey,  founded,  aboi  t  the  year  521,  by 
St.  Columb. 

A  nunnery,  founded,  in  the  year  1218,  by  Turlogh  O'Neil,  of 
Strabane. 

A  Dominican  ^-iary,  built,  in  the  year  1274,  by  O'Donnel,  Prince  of 
Tyrconnell ;  the  house  supported,  generally,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
monks. 

At  Dezerloghill.  An  abbey,  built  by  St  Columb  ;  is  now  converted 
into  a  Protestant  place  of  worship! 

\t  Donaghmore.  A  church,  built  in  the  time  of  St  Patrick ;  is  now 
converted  into  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 


(  I 


■■'.I'J*^' 


384 


APPENDIX. 


fe/ 


At  Dungiven.  An  Augustine  priory,  founded,  in  the  year  1100,  by 
Prince  O'Cahane  ;  it  stood  to  the  fourteenth,  and,  without  doubt,  to  the 
sixteenth  century. 

At  Magill(^an,  near  Loughfoyle.  A  monastery,  founded  by  St. 
Columb. 

At  Moycosquin,  near  Coleraine.  An  abbey,  founded  in  the  year 
1172.    It  stood  until  the  fifteenth  century. 

DONEGALL  (Countt). 

At  Astrath,  on  the  River  Erne,  near  Ballyshannon.  A  Cistercian 
abbey,  built  in  the  year  1178,  by  Roderick  O^Cananan,  Prince  of  T)rr- 
connell ;  by  a  valuation  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  revenues  made  £19 
1  Is.  8rf.  yearly,  now  worth  £39  VdB.  id. 

At  Bothconais,  in  Inis-eoguin.  A  monastery,  in  which  St  Coemgall 
was  abbot  in  the  eighth,  ana  St.  Maclisa  (whose  writings  are  still  ex- 
tant) in  the  eleventh  century. 

At  Clunleigh,  on  the  River  Foyle.  A  church,  built  by  St.  Columb, 
where  his  disciple,  St.  Lugad,  is  honored  ;  St.  Carnech  was  abbot  and 
bishop  here  about  the  year  530.  It  is  now  the  Protestant  place  of  wor- 
ship in  the  diocese  of  Derry. 

At  Clonmany,  near  the  sea.  A  monastery,  built  by  St  Columb ; 
now  the  church. 

At  Conwall,  near  the  River  Sevilly.  An  abbey,  founded  about  the 
year  587 ;  now  a  church  of  worship  in  the  diocese  of  Raphoe. 

At  Cnodain,  on  the  River  Erne.  A  monastery,  in  which  St  Conan 
was  abbot 

At  Domnachprlinne  Tochuir,  in  Inisoen.  A  church,  founded  by  St. 
Patrick,  in  which  he  appointed  McCarthen,  brother  to  the  saint  of 
Cloglier,  bishop ;  there  are  still  preserved  the  saint's  penitential  bed, 
and  other  sacred  relics ;  a  great  resort  of  pilgrims  on  St  Patrick's  day, 
17th  March. 

At  Dnnegall.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1474, 
by  Odo  Roe  O'Donnell,  Prince  of  Tyrconnell.  The  place  oi  interment 
of  great  men  and  scholars. 

At  Drumhome,  on  the  Bay  of  Donegall.  A  monastery,  in  which  St. 
Ernan  lived  in  the  year  640 ;  continued  to  the  general  dissolution ;  now 
tlie  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Fahan,  six  miles  north-west  of  Derry,  on  Loughswilly.  A  noble 
monastery,  founded  by  St.  Columb.  This  grand  edifice  was  held  in 
the  greatest  veneration,  from  the  reverence  paid  to  the  patron  saint, 
from  the  many  monuments  of  antiquity  preserved  there,  and  from  its 
being  the  place  of  interment  of  many  illustrious  saints  and  great  men. 
The  only  relics  still  remaining  are  some  fragments  of  the  acts  of  St. 
Columb,  written  in  Irish  verse  by  St.  Muran,  a  large  chronicle,  and  the 
crosier  of  St.  Muran,  richly  ornamented  with  jewels,  which  is  ^veserved 
by  the  O'Neils. 

At  Fanegaragh.    A  Franciscan  friary,  built  by  McRuinifaig. 

At  Garton,  two  niles  west  of  Kilmacrenan.  A  monastery,  founded 
by  St.  Columb  ;  now  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Hilfothuir.  A  Cistercian  abbey,  built,  in  the  year  1194,  by 
O'Dogharty. 


0^      ^ 


APPENDIX. 


385 


i;  now 


At  Inver,  five  mMes  east  of  Killybegs.  A  Franciscan  friary,  founded, 
about  the  year  1500,  on  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  monastery,  that  was 
built,  563,  by  St.  Natalis. 

At  Inis  Keelj  an  island  off  the  coast    An  abbey. 

At  Ines  Samer.  Some  religious  house,  in  which  Flaherty,  King  of 
Tyrconnell,  died  in  retirement  in  the  year  1197,  after  having  laid  off 
his  crown  j'nd  worldly  cares. 

At  Kilbaron,  on  the  Bay  of  Donegall.  A  church,  founded  by  St. 
Columb  ;  now  the  Protestant  church. 

At  Kilcartaich.  A  church,  in  which  St.  Carthach  was  bishop  about 
the  year  540 ;  it  is  supposed  to  be  Killcarr,  which  is  a  Protestant  house 
in  the  diocese  of  Raphoe. 

At  Killybegs.    A  Franciscan  friary,  built  by  McSweeny-bannig. 

At  Kilmacrenan^  on  the  River  Gannon.  An  abbey,  richly  endowed 
by  St.  Columb ;  and  a  Franciscan  friary,  built  by  O'Donnel,  which  is 
now  the  Protestant  church. 

At  Kil  O'Donnel.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded,  before  the 
year  1600,  by  O'Donnell ;  by  an  inquisition,  ordered  by  James  I.,  the 
revenues  made  3«.  annually,  now  worth  £3. 

At  Loughdeargh^  in  the  parish  of  Templecaran,  there  are  several 
islands,  and  in  the  largest,  called  St.  Dabeoc,  was  an  Augustine  priory, 
founded,  by  St.  Dabeoc,  about  the  year  492.  St.  Patrick's  purgatory, 
celebrated  all  over  Europe,  and  visited  by  all  nations,  particularly  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  is  situated  in  one  of  these  islands ;  the  lough 
continues  still  to  be  the  resort  of  great  numb'ers  of  pilj:rims. 

At  Movill^  on  Loughfoyle.  A  monastery,  founded  oy  St  Patrick ; 
now  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Raphoe.     A  monastery,  founded  by  St.  Columb. 

At  Rathmullin^  on  Loughswilly.  A  Carmelite  friary,  founded  by 
McSweeny  Fannagh.  The  revenues  valued,  43  Elizabeth,  at  6*.  8d., 
now  worth  £6  13*.  4rf. 

At  Seinglean,  in  the  diocese  of  Raphoe.  A  monastery,  founded  by 
St.  Columb. 

At  Taughhoyne.  A  monastery,  founded  by  St  Baithen,  disciple  and 
kinsmai}  of  St.  Columb,  in  the  year  584. 

At  Torre  Island.  A  monastery,  founded  beforo  the  year  650,  in 
which  St  Ernan  was  abbot. 

At  TtUly,  near  Loughswilly.    An  Pbbey,  founded  by  St  Columb. 


DOWN  (County). 

At  Achadhcaoil,  near  the  Bay  of  Dundrum.  An  abbey,  in  which  St. 
Killen  was  abbot  in  the  fifth,  and  St  Senan  in  the  sixth  century. 

At  Bangor,  or  the  White  Choir,  formerly  the  Vale  of  Angels.  An 
abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  555,  by  St.  Corngall,  of  noble  parentage,  in 
Ulster,  and  disciple  of  St  Fintan,  in  Clonagh.  This  house  continued, 
until  the  reformation,  a  celebrated  school  for  great  men,  and  an  asy- 
lum for  kings  and  princes  from  the  busy  stage  of  the  world;  by 
an  inquisition,  held  5  James  I.,  the  revenues  were  worth  £3,  now 
worth  £60. 

At  Black  Abbey,  in  the  Great  Ardes.  A  Benedictine  abbey,  founded 

38 


^*- 


Ai 


S86 


APPENDIX. 


by  St.  Jchn  do  Courcoy ;  granted  by  .I'atnes  I.  to  the  Protestant  Bishop 
of  Armagh. 

At  Bretain,  near  the  town  of  Down.  An  abbey,  in  which  St  Loarne 
was  abbot  in  the  year  540  ;  is  now  a  robleman's  seat. 

At  Castle  Buy,  near  the  Lough  of  Strangford.  A  commandery,  built, 
in  the  year  1200,  by  Hugh  de  Lacie  ;  now  in  ruins.  The  Echlin  fam- 
ily possess  the.  property. 

At  Cumber,  on  the  Louffh  of  Strangford.  An  abbey,  founded,  about 
the  year  1201,  by  the  O' Neils  of  Clandeboy.  By  an  inquisition,  held 
1  James  I.,  John  O'MuUigan  was  abbot ;  the  revenues  made  then  £23 
19«.  4rf.,  now  worth  £479  6s.  8rf. 

At  Downpatrick,  a  town  on  the  Louj'h  of  Strangford.  An  abbey, 
founded  by  St.  Patrick,  in  which  he  wa»  interred  in  the  year  493. 

A  priory  of  regular  canons,  founded,  in  the  year  1138,  by  Malachi 
O'Morgair ;  granted  to  Gerald,  Earl  of  Kildare. 

A  priory  of  crossbearers,  founded  by  Sir  John  de  Courc.ey ;  granted 
to  the  above  nobleman. 

A  Cistercidai  abbey,  founded,  about  the  year  1200,  by  a  Mr.  Bagnal. 

A  < 'istercian  nunnery,  founded  there  also. 

A  Franciscan  friary,  built,  in  the  year  1240,  by  Hugh  de  Lacie, 
Earl  of  Ulster  ;  granted  to  Gerald,  Earl  of  Kildare. 

A  hospital  of  lepers,  granted  to  the  same  earl. 

At  Dromore,  a  town  originated  hy  St.  Coleman,  a  disciple  of 
McNissy,  Bishop  of  Connor.  A  Franciscan  priory,  built  by  him  about 
the  year  513. 

At  Drumboe.  An  abbey,  founded  by  St.  Patrick,  in  which  St. 
Mochumnia  was  abbot  in  the  seventh  century  ;  now  the  Protestant  place 
of  worship. 

At  Dtmdrum,  in  the  barony  of  Lecale.  A  castle,  built,  by  Sir 
John  de  Courcey,  for  the  Templars,  before  t'^e  year  J  313;  yearly 
revenues,  £6  135.  4rf.,  now  worth  £133  (is.  8d. ;  granted  to  Gerald, 
Earl  of  Kildare. 

At  Eynes.  A  priory,  founded,  in  the  year  1411,  by  Thomas  Chelene  ; 
It  became  the  dwelling  of  Charles  Echlin,  Esq. 

At  Qlangragh,  Vale  of  Charity.  An  abbey,  founded  in  the  year 
1200. 

Gray  Abbey,  on  the  Lough  of  Strangford  ;  founded,  in  the  year  1192, 
by  Africa,  daughter  of  Godfrey,  King  of  Man,  and  wife  of  Sir  John  de 
Courcey  ;  by  an  inquisition,  held  in  the  first  year  of  James  I.,  the  rev- 
enues made  £2,  now  worth  £40 ;  granted  to  Gerald,  Earl  of  Kildare  ; 
now  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Hollywood,  on  the  Bay  of  Carrickfergus.  A  monastery  of  Fran- 
ciscans ;  rents  valued,  in  5  James  L,  £1  3».  4rf.,  now  worth  £23  6s.  8d. 

At  Iniscourcey,  in  the  Lough  of  Strangford.  A  Cistercian  abb?y, 
built,  by  Sir  John  de  Courcey,  in  the  year  1180 ;  granted  to  Gerald, 
Earl  of  Kildare. 

At  KUcliff,  on  the  Loagh  of  Strangford.  An  abbey,  in  M'hich  St 
Eugene  and  St.  Niell  were  abbots ;  now  the  Protestant  place  of 
worship. 

A  hospital  for  lepers,  under  the  patronage  of  St  Peter. 

At  KdnMaru  An  abbey,  built  by  St  Fergus,  Bishop  of  Down, 
about  the  year  583.    St.  Neman  lived  here  too. 


APPENDIX.  '  ^87 

At  Maeherelin,  on  the  River  La^n,  near  Dromorc.  A  monastery , 
bnilt  by  St.  Colman,  who  died  in  the  year  Gl)9 ;  now  a  Protestant  place 
of  worship. 

At  Moville.  An  abbey  of  Augustines,  flourished  from  the  year  559 
nntil  1542,  when  it  had  been  suppressed,  after  having  produced  many 
illustrious  saints  and  great  literary  characters. 

At  JS/eivrey.  A  Cistercian  abbey,  built  by  Maurice  McLochlain, 
monarch  of  all  Ireland ;  made  into  a  Protes1:ant  place  of  worship  in 
1541^.    College  also  destroyed. 

At  JVewtoion,  A  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1244,  by  Walter 
de  Burgo,  Earl  of  Ulster;  surrendered  32  Henry  Vlll. ;  revenues 
worth  £13  3a.,  now  worth  £263. 

At  Saul,  in  the  barony  of  Lecale.  An  ajbey,  founded  by  St.  Patrick, 
where  he  died,  March  17,  493,  and  in  the  one  hundred  and  twentieth 
year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried,  with  great  solemnity,  at  Downpatrick ; 
granted  to  Gerald,  Earl  of  Kildare. 

At  Slieve  Donard,  a  high  mountain.  A  monastery,  founded  by  St. 
Domangart,  a  disciple  of  St  Patrick. 

At  Toberglory,  a  well  near  Downpatrick,  An  abbey,  founded  by 
Sir  John  de  Courcey,  and  richly  endowed. 


p 


DUBLIN  (County). 

Ac  Baldongan,  in  the  barony  of  Balruddery.  A  castle  of  Templars, 
that  was  converted  into  a  friary  and  nunnery  alternately. 

At  Ballymadun,  in  the  same  barony.  A  cell  and  a  church,  on  the 
ruins  of  which  Robert  Preston,  Esq.,  had  his  seat  in  the  year  1542. 

A  Castle  Knock.  An  Augustine  abbey,  founded  by  Richard  Tirrel ; 
now  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Clondalkin.  An  abbey,  in  which  St.  Cronan  Mochua  was  the 
first  abbot.before  the  year  776 ;  after  having  produced  many  saints,  it 
is  made  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Clontarf.  A  monastery,  built  in  the  year  550 ;  now  a  Protestant 
place  of  worship. 

Commandery  of  Templars,  founded  in  the  reign  of  King  John. 

At  Dublin.  Abbey  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  founded,  it  is  supposed,  by 
the  Danes,  after  thejr  conversion  to  Christianity,  about  the  year  948. 
It  was  at  first  a  Benedictine  monastery,  but  it  Avas  granted  to  the  Cis- 
tercians in  the  year  1139.  This  house  was  considerably  enriched  by 
the  bounty  of  bishops,  abbots,  and  princes,  and  always  held  in  the 
greatest  veneration  for  tlie  numerous  saints  and  learned  men  it  pro- 
duced, as  well  as  for  the  sacred  relics  which  it  contained.  In  the  year 
1180,  Fitz  Andelm,  and  Miles  Cogane,  and  Fitz  Stephen  brought 
fron.  Armagh,  and  bestowed  upon  Qiis  church,  a  stone  altar,  and  the 
most  holy  staft"  of  Jesus,  which  St.  Patrick  used  to  carry  in  his  hand  ; 
this  staff  was  covered  with  gold  and  overlaid  with  pearls,  being  held  so 
sacred  that  the  possessor  of  it,  if  a  bishop,  was  always  deemed  the 
canonical  owner  of  the  see  of  Armagh.  The  history  of  the  staflT  is 
thus  given  by  Joceline :  "  St.  Patrick,  moved  either  by  divine  instinct 
cr  angelical  revelation,  on  his  tour  in  the  south  of  Europe,  visited 
one  Justv3,  an  ascetic,  in  the  island  of  the  Tuscan  Sea,  who  was  spend- 


i' 


4- 


'V¥- 


888 


APPHNDIX. 


* 


m 


in;  a  iolitnry  lifo  of  the  moHt  odifyinfjf  Miiiictity.  Aftor  mutiml  inluta. 
tionut,  and  diHcoiirMo  on  hoiivoniy  iniittorM,  ho-  prONuntcd  thu  Iritih  iipoM- 
tlo  with  u  Mtiitr,  which  ho  avorrud  ho  had  rocuivud  from  tho  hund:i  of 
JoMUH  Chriit  hinidulf.  In  thiM  ialund  thoro  woro  Homo  mon  i{i  tlic  bloom 
of  youth,  and  othorM  who  appoorod  af(od  and  decn^pit.  Ht.  Patrick, 
npon  uonvorHinff  with  thorn,  found  tltat  thoHo  porHotin  xo'Mniiiijfly  old 
woro  HouN  of  thoHO  who  appoarod  yountf.  Jio  wain  aMtoniMhod  at  thin 
niiraculouN  a|>poaranco,  until  lio  waM  tola  that,  from  Ihoir  infancy,  ilioy 
Itad  Horvod  Uod ;  that  thoy  woro  uonritantlv  omployod  in  works  of .;  r- 
ity,  and  thoir  doorti  ovor  open  to  tlio  travollor  an(l  tho  didtri'HHod  and 
that,  ono  iii^ht,  a  Mtran^t^r,  with  a  Htatt'  in  IiIm  lumd,  camo  to  Miom, 
whom  th(>v  acconunodatod  to  tho  boHt  of  thoir  powor ;  and  that,  in  tho 
niorninpf,  ho  hlotwod  thom,  and  Haid,  1  am  Johum  (MiriNt,  whom  you  havu 
alwayH  faithfully  Horvod ;  hut  laMt  nitfht  you  rocoivod  mo  in  mv 
proper  |K)rHon.  llo  thon  gavo  thiu  otali  to  thoir  npiritual  fathor,  with 
diroctions  to  dolivor  it  to  a  Htrangor  namod  Patri;  h,  who  would  Hhortiy 
viHit  thom.  On  Haying  thin  ho  aHcondod  into  luiuvon,  and  lotl  uh  in 
that  Htato  of  juvenility  in  which  you  behold  uh  ;  and  our  Honti,  thon 
young,  aro  tlio  old,  docreuit  porHons  you  now  mho."  Joci  iiuo  goes  on 
then  to  rolato  that,  witli  tluH  atalV,  our  aoostlo  «:ollocted  «■  ury  vouom- 
ouH  Morpent  and  Huako  in  the  inland  of  Krin  to  tho  top  of  the  mountain 
of  Crough  Phadrjiig,  or  Patrick'n  llil),  in  tho  county  of  Mayo,  and 
from  thonco  precipitated  thom  into  tho  ocean.  riiiH  Htory  waH  hand(Ml 
down  by  general  tradition  in  thateomitry  ninco  the  oarlioMt  ag(!H,  being 
related  by  many  authom  who  ilouriHhod  prior  to  tho  days  of  Jocelino, 
in  the  year  ilH5.  TIum  house  and  poHSOHriionM  woro  granted,  Ul  Eliza- 
beth, to  Kdmund  Fitx  Alexander ;  rout,  £4  17«.  H(i.,  now  worth  £97 
VS».  id. 

Nunnery  of  Ht.  Mary  do  llogges;  founded,  in  tho  vear  1140,  by 
Dermot,  mm  of  tlie  King  of  Leinuter ;  granted,  (>  Edward  VI.,  to  James 
Sodgrave;  rent  Ha.  8t/.,  now  worth  £11  l!J».  8^/. 

Niinnory  of  St.  Mary  los  DumoM ;  without  tho  gate. 
,    Abbey  of  St.  Olave. 

Priory  of  All  Saints,  in  Hoggin  Groon,  now  called  College  Groen; 
was  founded,  about  tlie  year  1  Kki,  by  Dermot,  son  of  Muchard,  King 
of  Leinster ;  grvnted,  30  Henry  VHI.,  in  the  utayor,  &c.,  of  tho  city 
of  Dublin,  for  tlio  yearly  rojit  of  £4  iia.  04(i.,  now  worth  £8.'i  Oa.  10a. 

Abbe)-  of  St.  Thomas,  founded,  by  Henry  II.,  in  that  part  which 
is  now  called  Thomas  Court ;  tho  possessions  were  granted  to  divers 
persons  in  M  i^ilizaboth ;  yearly  valuo,  £^4  28.  4(i.,  now  worth  £482 
tv9.  Sd. 

Priory  of  St.  John  Baptist,  founded,  in  tlio  twelfth  century,  by  Ail- 
red  le  Palmer.  In  tliis  house  was  an  infirmary,  which  contained  tiliy 
beds  for  the  sick ;  tho  house,  site,  and  |)ossessions  were  granted  to 
James  Sodgrave,  of  Dublin,  for  £1078  Ifw.  8t/.,  now  wortli  £i>l,57r>, 
and  the  yearly  rent  of  'i.».  (W.,  now  worth  £'2  lOs, 

Friary  of  St.  Savior,  near  the  old  bridge,  on  the  north  bank,  found- 
ed, about  the  year  I90'i,  by  William  Mareschall,  Earl  of  Pembro..e. 
The  Kind's  Inns,  containing  courts  of  law,  rolls,  &.C.,  are  built  on  the 
site  of  this  sucred  edifice. 

Monastery  of  St.  Francis,  built,  where  Francis  Street  now  runs,  by 


$liii- 


N<ir 


*" 


-  ^■.^y' :..■  ::-' ny 


AI'PUIVDIX. 


889 


hem, 
thu 
have 


Ralph  lo  Vortor,  in  tho  ymr   I*^.'l5 ;   grtintoi\,  U4  Uenry  VIIL,  to 
ThntriaN  HUiphnnH.  at  iit.  ynarly  rntit.,  now  worth  £9. 

MontiMtcry  of  thn  Holy  Trinity,  f'oundod,  in  th«  year  195^,  by  tho 
Talliot  liumly;  ((rantod,  'M  llonry  VIII.,  to  Waltnr  Torrull,  at  the 
yearly  ront  of  (k  I//.,  now  worth  JC({  b.  Hrf. 

vl  Carinolito  nionaHtciry,  in  tln>  parish  of  Ht.  Putor,  hnilt  in  tho  yoar 
1*^78 ;  ((rantod,  'M  Ilonry  VIM.,  to  NicholaH  Htonyhumt,  at  tho  yearly 
ront  of  ii<r.  (W.,  now  worth  JCti  l()j». 

lIoHpilal  of  Bt.  Htophnn,  foiuidiMl  in  tho  yoar  VM4. 

Htuyno  lIoNpital,  built  and  ondowod,  in  tho  year  1930,  by  Henry 
LoundroH,  ArclihiHliop  of  Dublin. 

Allon'H  IIoHpital,  foundod,  for  tho  poor,  about  tho  year  1500,  by  Wal- 
ter, ArchbiHhop  of  Dublin. 

At  /Vn^/a,  two  niiloH  from  Dublin.  An  abboy,  foundod,  an  people 
think,  by  Ht.  i'atrick.  Ht.  KonicuH  whh  abbot,  and  itn  natron  iiamt. 
IIor()  in  a  well,  docliratnd  to  Ht.  Patrick,  and  romarkabio  for  many 
mirac.lori,  and  '\\h  Hanativo  oflbcta ;  now,  tho  Iiouho  in  mafiu  a  Protomtant 
place  of  worHhip. 

At  Cilnttntnore.  A  nunnery,  found<'d,  in  tho  yoar  IHK),  by  John 
Comin,  ArchbiHhop  of  Dublin,  in  tiiiM  tdacn,  which  Ih  throe  mileM  north 
of  HwordH;  at  an  inquinition  of  :U)  Ilonry  Vlll.,  thn  rovonueM  made, 
yearly,  £119  U.,  now  worth  £9941. 

At  lUdm  Patrick.  A  priory,  foundod,  by  Hitrio,  son  of  Muachard. 
on  IniH  I*atri<!k.  Tho  holy  Mool  Kinian,  Prnjco  of  tho  Hrof^i,  ronigned 
iuM  throiut,  IxuMimo  a  monk  hero,  waH  iiflorwardH  abbot,  and  died  in 
tho  yoar  H!»H;  ^rrantod,  90  Mli/.aboth,  to  ThomaM  Fit/,  WillianiH. 

At  Inis- Pa  trick.  frclantPs  Eye,  a  Hmall  rocky  iHland,  north  of  liowth 
Hill,  whon»  Ht.  NoHMau  foundod,  in  tho  yoar  570,  an  abbey,  in  which 
ho  Hj)ont  tho  Sviuiin^  of  a  holy  life  in  prayinff  and  fantinff. 

Kilmaintutm  PriortL  foimdod,  in  tho  yoar  1 174,  by  Richard  Htronjf- 
bow,  Karl  of  PombroKO,  for  the  Knij^htH  TomplarM,  but  on  tho  nuppros- 
Hion  of  that  ordor  by  tho  i)opo,  in  1<SI9,  tho  priory  was  given  to  the 
HoHpitalcrH.  Hy  an  inquisition  taken  •i9  Henry  VIII.,  the  revenues 
made  £04  \\a.  Iri.,  now  worth  £191)4  1*.  M.;  granted,  90  Elizabeth, 
to  William  Browne,  part  of  the  rovenucH  for  £57  10«.,  now  worth  £1150 
yearly. 

At  Kilmfi;hlan,  in  tho  barony  of  Castle  Knock.  A  monoatory,  valued 
98  Honry  VUI. ;  thai  i«  all  wo  know  of  it. 

At  Luftk.     An  abbey,  foundod  very  oarlv.  '^  ^  ?  ts| 

At  Mnortown.  A  monatitory,  in  which  St.  Cronan  was  tho  firrt 
abbot,  before  the  year  571. 

At  Palvmratown,  on  tho  Liffijy,  throe  miloH  from  Dublin.  A  priory 
of  Ht.  Launmce. 

At  S!ti!;f!;nrd.  A  priory,  founded,  about  the  year  650,  by  St.  Moaa- 
cro  ;  now  tho  ProtoHtant  place  of  worHhip. 

At  St.  CMhnrinf^s.  A  priory,  amply  endowod  by  Warrisius  de  Peche, 
for  the  Halvation  of  his  soul  and  of  the  aouls  of  hia  anceatora,  about  the 
year  1990. 

At  Swords.  A  monaatery,  foimdod,  in  tho  year  519,  by  Ht.  Columb, 
to  which  ho  bostowod  a  small  miasal,  writton  by  himaelf,  and  appointed 
Ht.  Finan  Lobhair,  leper,  as  abbot.    This  ia  the  church  at  present 


390 


APPENDIX. 


/■ 


* 


A  nunnery,  founded  before  the  reign  of  King  Edward  IV. 

At  Tallaght,  five  miles  from  Dublin.  A  monastery,  founded  early, 
by  St  Maelwan,  they  suppose,  because  he  was  ih>i  firet  bishop ;  now  a 
Protestant  place  of  worship. 

FERMANAGH  (Countt). 

At  CZinish,  an  island  in  Lough  Earn.  St  Synell  was  abbot  of  Clain 
Inis  about  the  year  550 ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Derough.  A  collegiate  church,  vested  in  the  crown  on  the  gen- 
eral suppression. 

At  Dtvenisht  an  island  in  Lo^TOfh  Earn,  near  Enniskillen.  An  abbey, 
built  in  Daimb-inis,  about  the  year  563,  by  St  Laserian ;  it  stood  unul 
the  general  plunder. 

At  Gola^  near  Lough  Earn.  A  monastery,  found  by  McManus,  lord 
of  the  place ;  granted  to  Sir  John  Davis,  knight 

At  InM-mac-Sainty  an  island  in  Lough  Earn.  An  abbey,  founded, 
in  523,  by  St  Nenn ;  remained  as  u  parish  church  till  the  time  of 
Queen  Anne. 

At  Liagool  An  abbey,  founded  very  early ;  granted  to  3t.  John 
Davis,  knight. 

At  Ross  Orry,  on  Lough  Earn.  A  nunnery,  founded,  about  die  year 
480,  by  St.  Frahchea ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in  the  diocese 
of  Clogher. 

GALWAY  (County). 

Mibey  Gonnogan,  nine  miles  east  of  Loughrea ;  granted,  34  Henry 
VHL,  to  Ulick,  first  Earl  of  Clanricarde. 

At  Abbey  Knochnoyy  near  Tuaro.  An  abbey,  founded,  for  the  Cis- 
tercians, in  the  year  1190,  by  Cathol  O'Connor,  King  of  Connaught, 
who  took  there  the  religious  habit,  and  died  in  1224,  and  is  interred 
there ;  valued,  27  Elizabeth,  yearly  £209  4«.,  now  worth  £4184 ;  grant- 
ed to  Valentine  Blake,  Esq. 

At  Jighrim,  near  Ballinasloe.    An  Augustine  priory,  founded,  in  the 
year  1200,  by  Theobald  Butler;  granted,  with  several  other  houses,  to. 
Richard,  Earl  of  Clanricarde,  for  the  yearly  rent  of  £68  9*.  6rf. 

At  Ahasktragh,  in  the  barony  of  Kilconnell.  An  abbey,  in  which 
St  Cuan  4ied  in  the  year  788 ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in 
the  diocese  of  Elphin. 

At  Arran  JVaomh,  that  is,  Arran  of  the  Saints.  Many  churches  were 
erected  in  these  islands  (three  in  number)  on  the  coast  of  Galway ;  the 
bodies  of  many  saints  repose  in  them ;  the  King  of  Cashell,  at  the  re- 
quest of  St  Albeus,  granted  the  largest  of  these  islands  to  St.  Enna, 
who  ouilt  ten  churches  in  it  about  the  year  490. 

A  -  the  Middle  Island.    Two  churches. 

At  Ardoilen,  the  third  of  the  islands  of  Arran.  Three  churches  and 
a  monastery,  which  was  founded  by  St.  Fechin ;  the  pious  abbot,  St 
Gormgal,  died  here  in  1017.  A  Franciscan  friaxy  was  founded  in  these 
island^  about  the  year  1485. 

At  Athenry.  A  Dominican  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1241,  by 
Meyler  de  Bermingham.  -  '  jv 


/ 


•*; 


APPEND  X. 


391 


■1 » 


A  Franciscan  friarv,  foundei],  '^  tho  year  1464,  by  Thomas,  Earl  of 
Kildare,  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  an  J  by  O'Tully. 

At  Ballynehinch.  A  Carmelite  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1356, 
by  O'Floherty. 

At  Beagh.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded  about  the  year  1441 ; 
valued,  in  the  28  Elizabeth,  £618,  now  worth  £6  13*.  4rf.  yearly. 

At  Boilean  C  -  •  in  the  diocese  of  Tuam.  A  rich  Franciscan  mon- 
astery, founded  in  <'  e  year  1291. 

At  C'lre  Galway.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  builjt,  about  the  year 
1290,  by  John  de  Cogan ;  now  a  Roman  Catholic  chapel  is  built  in  its 
stead. 

At  Clonfert.  An  abbey,  founded,  by  St.  Brendan,  about  the  year 
553 ;  he  founded  several  other  abbeys,  and  had  at  one  time  presided 
over  three  thousand  monks,  er- ;  h  nf  "  hom  did  industriously  earn  a  suf- 
ficiency for  his  own  support ;  we  fine,  that  many  saints  lived  and  died 
here ;  dissolved  at  the  reformation. 

At  Clonkjttn.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded,  about  the  year 
1435  by  Thomas  O'Kellj,  Ai.hbishop  of  Clonfert. 

At  Clonihuskerl.  A  monasterv  of  canons,  founded,  about  the  year 
'Hii),  by  Boadan;  granted  to  Rici  ird.  Earl  of  Clanricarde. 

At  Clooneyvomoge.  An  Augustine  cell,  founded  about  the  year 
1441 ;  worth,  according  to  an  inquisition  held  28  Elizabeth,  69.  8</., 
now  worth  £6  13«.  4rf. 

At  Crevaghbane.  A  Carmelite  friary,  founded,  m  or  about  the  year 
1400,  by  the  Earl  of  Clanricarde  ;  granted  to  the  burgesses  and  citizens 
of  Athenry. 

At  Dundrynan.  A  monastery,  in  whicii  Thomas  was  abbot  in  the 
year  1374. 

At  Dunmore.  An  Augustine  fnary,  built,  iu  the  year  1425,  on  the 
site  of  the  monastery  founded  by  St  Patrick ;  the  market-place  and 
the  Protestant  place  of  worship  stand  in  its  stead. 

At  Enagh  Dune,  in  the  barony  '^f  lare.  An  abbey,  founded  in  the 
seventh  century,  of  which  St,  Ml  !••  n  ♦vns  abbot. 

A  nunnery,  founded  by  St.  Brei:5>n,  of  Clonfert,  for  his  sister  Briga; 
granted  to  the  Earl  of  Clanricarci  % 

St.  Mary's  abbey. 

A  Franciscan  abbey,  to  which  were  subordinate  all  the  Connaughl 
and  Ulster  monasteries;  revenues  made  yearly,  £3  6s.,  now  worth 
£66. 

At  Fallig.  A  monastery,  fen  led,  by  a  Mr.  Fallig,  an  Irishman, 
for  Gray  Friars,  in  the  year  1390.    "^he  parson  resides  there  at  present. 

At  Fidhard.  An  abbey,  foua-.  ?  1,  by  St.  Patrick,  for  St.  Justus ;  it 
is  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in  the  diocese  of  Elphin. 

At  Galivay.  A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1296,  by  Sir 
William  de  Burgh,  Leigh,  or  Grey,  in  the  island  of  St  Stephen,  by  the 
north  gate. 

A  Dominican  friary,  built  first  for  nuns,  which,  when  they  forsook  it, 
was  possessed  a  long  time  by  the  secular  clergy,  but  finally  granted, 
by  Innocent  III.,  to  the  Dominicans,  in  'he  year  1488  ;  demolished,  in 
1652,  by  the  orders  of  Oliver  CromwelL 

An  Augustine  priory,  founded,  on  a  hill  near  the  town,  in  the  year 
1508,  by  Stephen  LyncL   ?0m  to  the  mayor  of  Galway. 


'  f 


392 


APFEMDiX. 


.% 


^ 


M 


A  nunnery,  built  in  the  island  of  Lough  Corrib,  west  of  the  town. 

At  Lnmagh.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  664,  in  this  island,  on 
the  coast  of  Galway,  by  St.  Fechin,  who  im  tlie  patron  saint  of  the 
island.    Now  a  Protestnnt  place  of  worship. 

At /nuautn,  an  is>'.  'jf  Lough  Corrib.  £!  Brendon  erected  an 
abbey,  and  made  St  Mtidon  abbot,  who  died  in  the  year  >     ^ 

At  KilbouF;\t.  A  i.ionastery,  built  by  the  Waley  fami'y :  'Suppressed 
by  the  orders  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

At  Kilbrenan,  A  monastery  and  its  appurtenances,  granted  to  the 
mayor,  »jic.,  pf  Atfienry. 

At  Kilcorban.  A  Dominican  friary ;  granted,  by  Thomas  Burgh, 
Bishop  of  Clonfert,  to  the  Dominicans,  in  the  year  1446.  Pope  Eugene 
IV.  confirmed  the  grant. 

At  Kilcolgan.  An  abbey,  built,  in  the  year  580,  by  St.  Colgan,  the 
patron  saint ;  it  is  now  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Kilcolgan.  A  monastery,  in  the  diocese  of  Clonfert,  founded  by 
St.  Columbkill. 

At  Kilconnell.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1400, 
by  William  O'Kelly,  a  nobleman,  on  the  ruins  of  an  abbey,  built  in  the 
days  of  St.  Patrick,  as  it  is  supposed,  by  the  Abbot  St.  Conall ;  granted 
to  Charles  Calthorpe. 

At  Kilcoonagh.  An  abbey,  founded  by  Tipraid,  a  prince  of  that 
country,  for  St.  Columb,  who  placed  over  it  St.  Cuonnan,  maternal 
brother  to  St.  Carthag.    This  is  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Kilcreunata.  A  nunnery,  founded,  in  the  year  1200,  by  Cathald 
O'Connor  Crovderg,  for  Benedictine  nuns ;  Lady  Fynola,  daughter  of 
Felym  O'Connor,  was  abbess  in  1300;  granted  to  Richard,  Earl  of 
Clanricarde. 

At  KUline  Bo; '«■<./;,    A  Franciscan  friary,  built  about  Ihe  year  1428. 

At  Killoebha'  u  t\  religious  house  of  some  sort.  St.  Maccectus,  of 
this  house,  wa  ;MtU  to  St.  Patrick,  and  made  the  famous  relic  called 
Finnfaidheach.     Nn  y  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Kilmacduach.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  620,  by  St  Col- 
man,  son  of  Duack  ;  it  became  an  Augustine  monastery  in  1283 ;  here 
are  many  venerable  and  noble  ruins  that  bespeak  the  former  greatness 
and  piety  of  the  Irish.  The  round  tower  project^  seventeen  feet  from 
its  perpendicular  line.  The  celebrated  leaning  tower  of  Pisa,  in  Italy, 
projects  only  thiiteen  feet    Granted  to  the  Earl  of  Clanricarde. 

At  Kilrickill.  A  nunnery,  built,  by  St.  Patrick,  for  his  sister  St 
Richella ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in  tlie  diocese  of  Clonfert. 

At  Kiltullagh.    A  Franciscan  ceil,  built  prior  to  the  year  1441. 

At  Kinahkxn.  A  commanderv  of  Hospitalers,  founded,  about  the 
year  1250,  by  O'Flaherty. 

A  Franciscan  friary,  founded  before  the  year  1325. 

At  Loughreagh.  A  Carmelite  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1300, 
by  Richard  de  Burgo,  Earl  of  Ulster ;  granted  to  Richard,  Earl  of 
Clanricarde. 

A  leper  hospital  was  there  too. 

At  Maglice,  Magliek,  or  Maghelle.  Three  monasteries,  founded  by 
St.  Alban,  who  died  in  the  year  650. 

At  Milick,  on  the   Shannon.    A  Franciscan   friary,  founded  by 


m  •-: 


!*• 


APPENDIX. 


393 


O^Maddcn,  dynast  of  that  country ;  granted  to  tiie  Earl  of  Clanri- 
carde. 

At  Mucinis.  An  abbey,  wherein  ReguluB  was  abbot  in  the  time  o^ 
St  Colamb  ;  this  place  is  in  Lunghdearg,  in  the  county  Galway. 

At  Pallice.  A  Carmelite  friary,  built,  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
by  Bermin^fham,  Baron  of  Athenry ;  ^ranted,  31  Elizabeth,  to  John 
RawBon,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £8  Via,  7d.  Irish,  now  worth  £172 
11».  8rf. 

At  Portumna.,  A  Cistercian  abbey,  which  became,  in  the  course  of 
time,  a  Dominican  friary;  the  still  existing  walls  sho  /  that  it  had 
been  a  noble  structure.  The  ancient  rhoir  is  now  the  Protestant  place 
of  worship. 


Shpy,  built  by  St,  Fursey,  son 

ster,  who  died  about  the  year 

'  "otestant  place  of  worship. 

iciscan  friary,  built  in  the 

, ,  founded,  in  the  year  1498, 


At  BathmaiK,  on  Lough  Com' 
of  Fintan,  of  the  royal  race  of  j*- 
653,  being  called  now  Kilfursn 

At  Ross^  in  the  diocese  of  Tu 
year  1431, 

At  Rosserelljf,     A  Franciscan  mo». 
by  Lord  Gunnard  ;  granted  to  the  Earl  of  Clanricarde. 

At  Sleushancogh.  A  Franciscan  friary,  granted  to  Sir  Francis 
Sammcs, 

At  TemplegaUe^  or  Teagh  Sassaru  A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIL,  by  the  Burgo  family ;  granted  to  the  burgesses 
and  commonalty  of  Athenry.  Another  Franciscan  friaiy  was  granted 
hero  to  Edmond  Barret 

At  Tombeolcu,  tm.  the  head  of  Roundstowne  Bay.  A  Dominican 
friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1427,  by  O'Flaherty,  dynast  of  that  coun- 
try ;  demolished  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  the  stones  carried  away 
to  build  a  castle  in  the  neighborhood. 

At  Tuam.  An  abbey,  built  in  the  year  4S7 ;  was  converted,  in  the 
sixth  century,  into  a  cathedral  by  the  good  Su  Jarlath. 

A  priory  of  St  John  the  Baptist,  built,  in  the  year  1140,  by  Tiruol- 
vac  O'Connor,  King  of  Ireland ;  granted  to  Richard,  Earl  of  Clanri*- 
carde. 

A  Premonstratensian  abbey,  founded,  in  the  reign  of  King  John,  by 
thq  Burgh  family ;  granted,  20  Elizabeth,  to  the  burgesses  and  com- 
monalty of  Athenry,  :  .,  i* 


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-         -        KERRY  (County).         -^ 

At  Jighad^e.  An  abbey,  where  Aodh,  grandson  of  Auliff  Mor. 
O'Donoghue,  King  of  Aoganacht  Locbalein,  was  buried  in  the  year 
1231. 

At  Jishamore.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  seventh  century,  by  the 
friars  of  St.  Finbar,  of  Cfwk  ;  it  is  situated  on  a  small  island  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Kenraare  River. 

At  Ardfert.  A  sumptuous  monastery,  built;  in  the  sixth  century, 
by  St  Brendan ;  destroyed  repeatedly  by  fire  and  wars.  Thomas, 
Lord  of  Kerry,  built,  in  the  year  1253,  a  monastery  there,  which  be- 
came the  burial  ground  of  several  illustrious  families  ;  this  house  was 
high  in  estimation  for  the  numenyas  miracles  wrought  there.    The 


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394  APPENDIX. 

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ruins  of  this  noble  edifice  stand  a  little  east  of  the  town ;  the  walls  of 
the  steeple,  choir,  cloisters,  dormitory,  and  chapel  for  rooming  are  en- 
tire. In  the  church  is  a  figure  of  St.  Brendan  in  rilievo ;  the  round 
tower,  the  finest  in  Ireland,  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  high,  unfor- 
tunately fell  in  the  year  1771. 

At  BaUynaskeligs,  or  St.  Michael's  Mount,  in  Toragha.  An  Augus- 
tine abbey,  removed  thither  from  the  island  of  Great  Skelig ;  the  ruins 
9n  the  sea  shore,  that  is  continually  wearing  it  away,  represent  the  an- 
cient abbey  as  a  noble  edifice.  There  is  a  holy  well,  concecrated  to 
St.  Michael,  which  is  annually  visited  on  the  29th  of  September; 
granted,  28  Elizabeth,  to  John  Blake ;  rent  £6  13».  Ad.  yearly,  now 
worth  £133  6s.  Sd. 

At  Croebheagh.    An  abbey,  founded,  by  St.  Patrick,  for  his  dis- 
^ciple,  St.  D|dnan;  St.  Triaii  was  abbot  and  bishop  here  about  the 
year  450. 

At  Dingle.  A  monastery,  which  was  a  cell  to  the  abbey  of  Killagh, 
Castlemain. 

At '  Jnnisfallenj  an  island  on  the  Lake  of  Killamey.  An  abbey, 
founded  by  St.  Finian  Lobhar,  or  the  Leper,  disciple  of  St  Brendan, 
and  son  of  the  King  of  Munster,  in  the  sixth  century.  In  1180,  this 
house  was  held  sacred  as  paradise,  and  the  clergy  were  deemed  so  holy 
and  trustworthy,  that  the  treasures  and  valuable  effects  of  the  whole 
country  were  deposited  in  their  hands ;  notwithstanding  the  abbey  was, 
in  this  year,  destroyed  by  Maolduim,  son  of  Daniel  O'Donaghoe,  and 
many  of  the  clergy  were  slain,  even  in  their  cells,  by  the  McCarthys. 
Granted,  37  Elizabeth,  to  Robert  CoUan;  rent  £72  3«.,  now  worth 
£14^3. 

At  Irdaghf  near  Loughlean.    A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  in  the 
year  1440,  by  Thady  McCarthy.    Granted  to  Robert  Collan,  at  16*. 
^  yearly  rent,  now  worth  £16. 

At  KUlaehidrConchtan.  A  nuimery,  founded,  in  the  sixth  century, 
by  St  Abban,  for  St  Conchenna. 

At  ISU^h.  A  priory  of  regular  canons,  founded,  in  the  reign  of 
John,  by  GeoflTry  de  Mariscis ;  granted  to  Thomas  Clinton ;  rent  £17 
yeaMy,  now  worth  £240. 

At  lAslaghiin.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1464, 
by  O'Connor,  Prince  of  Kerry ;  granted  to  Sir  Edward  Denny  ^  rftnt 
£3  11».  lii,  now  worth  £71  2«.  6rf. 

Mohaster  ni  Oriel,  in  the  barony  of  Glaneroug^ht. 

At  Odomey.  A  Cistercian  abbey,  founded  m  the  year  1154;  was 
demolished  39  Elizabeth,  and  the  possessions  granted  to  the  provost 
and  fellows  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.    It  is  now  a  shapeless  ruin. 

At  Rattoo,  or  Rathoy,  in  the  barony  of  Clanmaurice.  A  monastery 
of  regular  canons,  founded,  in  the  14th  century,  in  the  place  of  a 
commandery  of  Hospitalers ;  granted,  23  Elizabeth,  to  John  Zouche, 
at  the  rent  of  6«.  7d,  now  worth  £6  lis.  8d, 

At  Skdi^y  an  Island  on  the  coast  of  Iveragha.  An  abbey,  founded, 
by  St  Fiman,  in  the  year  812.  The  Danes  plundered  and  destroyed 
the  abbey,  and  kept  the  monks  in  close  confinemeut  until,  through 
hunger,  tiiey  perished. 

At  3Va2ee.    A  Dominican  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1213^  by 


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V   Lord  John  Fits  Thomas*    The  general  budal  place  of  the  Earls  of 
*  Desmond. 

Commandery  of^  the  Knights  of  St  John* 

ElLDARE  (Couimr). 

At  ^hy.  A  monastery  of  Crossed  firiars,  founded,  in  the  reign  of 
Ring  John,  by  Richard  de  SU  Michael ;  granted,  17  Charles  II.,  to 
Dame  Mary  Meredith. 

A  Dominican  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1253,  by  the  families  of 
Boiseles  and  Hogans ;  granted)  with  all  its  possessions,  3.5  Henry  VIII., 
to  Martin  Pelles ;  rent  2tf.  Sd.  Irish,  now  worth  £2  13a.  4d. 

At  Caitle  DermoL  A  priory  of  regtilar  canons,  founded,  in  the  year 
500,  by  St  Dermot,  whose  festival  falls  on  2ist  June. 

A  friarv  of  Crotlched  or  Crossed  friars,  founded,  in  the  reign  of  King 
i ,  John,  by  Walter  de  Riddlesford;  granted,  23  Elisabeth,  to  Henry 
,     Harrington. 

A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1302,  by  Thomas,  Lord 
Offaley. 

At  Vlanej  a  priory,  founded,  about  the  year  548,  by  St  Ailbe. 

A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  about  the  year  1266,  by  Gerard  FitiS 

Maurice,  Lord  Offaley,  as  people  suppose ;  granted)  24  Heniy  VIII.,  to 

Robert  Eustace,  John  Trevor,  and  others,  in  eapite,  at  the  yearly  rent 

of  2».  id.  Irish,  now  worth '£2  69>  8d. 

' :       At  Clonaeh.    A  chapel,  dedicated  to  St  Fynan,  demolished  by  John 

,    Lye,  of  Rathbridge,  according  to  an  inquisition  that  was  held  6  James  I. 

At  Cloncurry.    A  Carmelite  friary,  built,  in  the  year  1347,  by  John 
tf  Roche ;  granted,  !)5  Henry  Vlll.,  to  William  Dicksou,  at  8d.  yearly 
rent  j  granted,  8  Eli/'^beth,  to  Richard  Slayne,  for  twenty-one  years ) 
,   rent  1&».,  now  worth  £16. 

At  Orany,  near  Castle  Dermot  A  nunnery,  built,  in  the  year  1200, 
by  Walter  de  Riddlesford ;  richly  endowed  by  the  benefactions  of  sev- 
eral ladies  and  noblemen;  granted,  34  Henry  VIIL,  to  Sir  Anthony 
St  Leger. 

At  Great  ConaU.  A  priory,  founded,  in  the  year  1202,  by  Mayler 
Fitz  Henry,  grandsdn  of  Henry  I.  It  beoame  the  cradle  and  tomb  of 
great  and  learned  men ;  granted,  3  Elizabeth,  for  sixty-one  years,  to 
Sir  Nicholas  White ;  rent  £26  19«.  5(/.,  now  worth  £539  89.  \d. 

At  KUbegs.    A  coramandery  of  Hospitalers. 

At  Kilcock.    A  monastery,  dedicated  to  the  virgin  St  Cocho. 

At  KUcuUen.  A  monastery,  founded  by  St  Patrick,  who  appointed 
St  Isemin  superior.  He  was  succeedeu  by  St  Mactatius,  who  died 
of  the  plaffue  m  the  year  548.  •  / 

"  At  KUdare.  A  nunnery  and  monastery,  founded,  in  tho  year  453, 
by  St  Brigid,  the  first  nun  in  Ireland.  The  houses  and  revenues 
granted,  by  Elizabeth,  to  Anthony  Deeringe ;  rent  £3  10s.  Qd,  Irish, 
now  worth  £70  13«.  4A 

A  Franciscan  abbey,  built,  in  the  year  1260,  by  Lord  William  de 
«  Vesey ;  granted,  34  Henry  VIIL,  to  Daniel  Sutton }  rent  28.  3d.  Irish, 
now  worUi  £2  59. 

A  Carmelite  friary,  built,  in  the  year  1290,  by  William  de  Vesey. 


396        •  AfPfiNuix. 

At  KUhiU*    A  commandery  of  Hospitalers,  built,  in  the  tiurteettuT 
century,  by  Maurice  Fitzgerald ;  granted  to  John  Allen.  ' 

At  AitfOMey,  near  Kildare*  An  abbey,  founded,  by  St  Patrick,  for 
his  nephew,  St.  Auxil,  who  died  27th  August,  464 ;  hence  the  place 
Was  called  KiUusaille,  and  afterwards  Kill'UssL  It  is  now  the  ProteS' 
tant  place  of  worship. 

At  KUfuihe,  An  Augustine  abbey,  founded,  in  the  thirteenth  ceu' 
tuiy,  by  WUliam  Mareschal,  Earl  of  Pembroke )  granted  to  the  Earl 
of  Ormond. 

At  Leudip*    A  monastery  stood,  in  the  year  1463,  near  this  village. 

At  Mavnooth.  A  college,  ibunded,  about  the  year  1518,  by  Gerald, 
.^arl  of  Kildare,  for  a  provost,  vice  provost,  five  priests,  two  clerks,  and 
three  boys,  to  pray  for  his  own  soul  and  for  the  soul  of  his  wife. 

At  Moncoteremn*  A  sumptuous  abbey,  built,  by  St  Alban,  in  the 
seventh  century.  St  Emin,  or  Evin,  of  the  Eogonacht's  family,  in 
South  M unster,  brought  a  number  of  monks  from  thence  to  this  house  { 
his  festival  is  held  on  22d  December.  At  the  suppression  it  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Earl  of  Drogheda,  and  is  now  the  mansion  of  that  fam« 
ily.  Under  the  name  of  Moore  Abbey. 

At  Moom^  A  large  old  church,  of  which  the  cross,  and  several 
Irish  inscriptions,  still  remain. 

At  JViutB.  An  Augustine  priory,  founded,  in  the  year  1200,  by  the 
baron  of  the  town ;  granted,  1553,  to  Richard  Mannering^  at  the  rent 
of  £35  18s.  2rf.,  now  worth  £718  3s.  4rf. 

A  Dominican  friary,  founded,  about  the  year  1355,  by  the  Eustace 
femily ;  granted,  34  Henry  VIIL,  to  Sir  Thomas  Luttrell,  at  9s.  4/i 
rent,  now  worth  £9  6s.  8a. 

An  Augustine  friary,  founded  in  the  year  1484.  The  possessions 
Were  valued,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  at  £6  129>  8d>,  now  worth  £132 
13«.  id. ,' .  granted  to  Nicholas  Aylmer. 

At  JVew  Ahlm.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1460, 
by  Sir  Rowland  Eustace,  Lord  Treasurer  of  Ireland ;  granted,  1582, 
to  Edi  Spenser ;  yearly  rent  £3  Irish,  now  worth  £^» 

At  ,  V6UtafC».  A  priory,  built,  in  the  year  1202,  by  Adam  de 
Hereford,  in  honor  of  St  Wolstan,  Bishop  of  Worcester,  lately  canon- 
ized ;  granted,  28  Henry  VllL,  to  Allen  of  Norfolk,  at  the  rent  of 
two  knights^  fees* 

At  TSmolin.  A  priory  of  regular  canons,  founded  here  very  early } 
stood  in  the  year  927,  and,  of  course,  continued  until  the  general  sup- 
pression. 

A  nunnery,  founded,  in  the  reign  of  John,  by  Robert,  son  of  Lord 
Nosa^h,  in  which  his  granddaughter  Lecelina  was  nUn.  This  house 
Was  richly  endowed  by  the  bounty  of  several  Catholic  bishops.  Grant' 
ed,  ^  Elitaahelii,  to  Heniy  Harrington  and  his  heirs,  at  the  yearly  rent 
of  £21  19k.  Iriih  money,  now  worth  £439. 

At  Tvll^  near  Kildare.  A  commondery  of  Hospitalers,  founded 
before  the  year  1308.  This  commandery,  with  all  its  possessions, 
was  granted  to  Sir  Hatm^  Harrington,  at  the  rent  of  £21  Qa*  ScL,  now 
Worth  £426  13».  4d>  It  is  now  held  in  oommendam  with  the  Pr(^eB« 
tant  see  of  Kildare. 


^ 


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Si ; 


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£»•»'  -*-'>'.. 


APPENDIX. 
KILKENNY  (Cotjm?T)» 


397 


At  C<Man.  An  Augustine  friary,  founded,  as  some  persons  sty,  by 
fiuffh  de  Mapilton,  Bishop  of  Ossory,  in  the  year  1251 ;  or,  as  others 
think,  by  the  Ofmonds ;  granted,  together  with  ihe  abbey  of  Athassel, 
to  Thomas,  Earl  of  Omond,  in  the  year  1557. 

Chantry,  of  which  the  nave  and  aisles  are  still  in  good  preservation ) 
the  choir  being  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Ferlc^h,  A  priory,  dedicated  to  St  Kieran,  by  the  Blanchfield 
fiimily,  in  the  thirteenth  century  ;  granted,  9  Elieabeth,  to  James  But-* 
ler,  Jun. ;  rent  £12  13*.  3d.,  now  worth  £253  6». 

At  Fiddotvn,  An  abbey,  by  St.  Maidoc,  in  the  year  500 ;  now  a 
Protestmt  parochial  place  of  worship. 

At  Fnsl^ord,  An  abbey,  founded  by  St  Laotan,  bishop  and  abbot  \ 
he  died  in  the  year  622.  There  is  a  celebrated  fountain  near  Cnshell 
dedicated  to  him.  This  is  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship,  and 
called  a  prebend  of  Aghour. 

At  Gray^numagh,  A  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1212,  by 
William  IM^reschal,  Earl  of  Pembroke ;  this  was  enriched  by  the  boun- 
ty  c€  several  bishops  and  nobles.  The  house,  with  all  its  possessions, 
was  granted,  8  Elisabeth,  to  tiie  Butlers. 

At  Jerpointf  near  ThcMnastown.  A  Cisteniian  abbey,  founded,  by 
Donogh  O'Donoghoe,  (in  the  year  1180,)  King  of  Ossory,  and  richly 
endowed  bv  him.  The  house,  with  all  the  possessions,  was  granted 
to  James,  Earl  of  Ormond,  at  the  annual  rent  of  £49  38.  9d,,  now 
worth  £983  15s, 

At  Jnistioge,  on  the  Noire.  An  Augustine  priory,  built,  in  the  year 
1210,  by  Thomas  Seneschal,  of  Leinster ;  granted,  with  all  the  posses^ 
sions,  to  James  Butler  and  his  heirs,  at  the  rent  of  £28  12«.,  now  worth 
£572.  A  rectory,  granted,  in  Whitchurch,  to  the  Earl  of  Ormond, 
31  Elizabeth. 

At  KeUs.  An  Augustine  priory,  founded,  in  the  year  1193,  by  Jef- 
frey, for  the  salvation  of  Earl  Richard,  governor  of  the  country ;  grant* 
ed,  by  Henry  VIIL,  to  James,  Earl  of  Ormond.  f 

At  Ki/lagky.  An  abbey,  in  which  St  Sinchell  was  abbot,  and  died 
of  the  plague,  26th  of  March,  548,  in  the  one  hundred  and  thirtieth  year 
of  his  age  ;  he  was  interred  in  this  place. 

At  JSS/amary,  five  miles  south  of  Callan.  St  Gobban  presided  here 
over  a  thousand  monks ;  the  place  is  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  KUdeeheen,  opposite  the  city  of  Waterford.  A  nunnery,  built,  m 
the  year  1151,  by  Dermot,  son  of  Murchad,  King  of  Leinster.  It  was 
sumptuously  endowed  by  himself  and  other  noblemen.  Catharine 
Motyng,  the  last  abbess,  surrendered  the  abbey,  2d  April,  31  Henry 
VIII. ;  granted,  26  Elizabeth,  to  the  mayor,  sheriffs,  and  corporation  of 
Waterford ;  rent,  yearly,  £59  I9.  8<i.,  now  worth  £1181  13».  id. 

At  Ki^fant.  An  abbey,  erected  by  St  Phian ;  it  is  now  a  Protestant 
place  of  worship,  seven  miles  from  Kilkenny. 

At  Kilktnmf^  a  large,  handsome  town  on  the  River  Noire,  and  cap- 
ital of  the  county  ;  it  can  justly  boast  of  three  singular  properties  — 
fire  without  smoke,  water  without  mud,  and  streets  paved  with  marble. 

The  cathedral  of  St  Kenny,  though  long  since  made  the  Prsfeutant 
34 


■:^: 


-p> 


398 


APPENDIX. 


place  of  worship,  still  retains  the  ancient  Catholic  cross,  and  many 
statues  of  saints  and  Catholic  bishops,  with  several  other  relics  of 
Catholicity. 

St  John's  Abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  1211,  for  the  relief  of  the  in- 
digent poor,  by  William  Mareschal,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  and  riiohly  en- 
dowed by  him  with  several  lands.  Richard  Cantwell,  the  last  prior, 
surrendered  this  house,  with  all  the  possessions,  31  Henry  VIII. ;  grant- 
ed to  the  mayor  and  citizens  of  Kilkenny,  with  one  hundred  acres  of 
land,  forty  gardens,  a  water  mill  in  Magdalen  Street,  a  wood  called 
Chanons  Grove  in  the  liberties  of  the  town,  with  two  hundred  acres  of 
land  adjoining,  ten  messuages  and  two  hundred  acres  in  Drakeland,  in 
the  county,  and  another  messuage  in  the  town. 

The  Black  Abbey,  in  the  Irishtown.  A  Dominican  priory,  founded, 
m  the  year  1225,  by  William  Mareschal,  Jr.,  Earl  of  Pembroke ;  he 
was  interred  in  the  choir  in  the  year  1231.  The  house  was  endowed 
by  King  Henry  VI.  and  the  Bishops  of  Ossory.  Peter  Cantwell,  the 
last  prior,  surrendered  it,  and,  35  Henry  VIIL,  it  was  granted  to  Wal- 
ter Archer,  the  sovereign,  and  to  the  burgesses  of  Kilkenny,  forever, 
at  the  yearly  rent  of  129.  Ad.  Irish  money,  now  worth  £12  68.  8d. 

A  Franciscan  friarv,  founded,  on  the  bank  of  the  Noire,  by  Richard 
Mareschal,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  15th  October,  1244.  King  Henry  III. 
granted  £20  to  be  paid  annually  for  buying  tunics  for  the  Franciscans 
of  Kilkenny,  Dubhn,  Cork,  Waterford,  and  Athlone.  17th  November, 
1.338,  a  great  flood  destroyed  all  the  bridges,  mills,  and  buildings  in 
and  about  Kilkenny,  but  did  not  approach  Uie  great  altar  of  this  mon- 
asteiy.  The  noble  and  venerable  ruins  of  this  edifice  stand  yet,  reach- 
ing from  the  city  wall  to  the  river.  Yearly  value  of  the  possessions 
was  then  £9  7».  Id.,  or,  in  money  of  the  present  day,  £18/  I*.  8d. 

At  ISimanagh.    An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  563,  by  St  Natalis* 

At  Knocktopher.  A  Carmelite  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1356,  by 
James,  the  second  Earl  of  Ormond ;  granted,  with  all  the  appurtenances, 
to  Patrick  Barnwall,  34  Henry  VIII.,  forever,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  4». 
Irish,  now  worth  £4. 

At  Roasiberean.    A  monastery,  founded,  1267,  by  the  Walsh  fam 
ily ;  granted,  31  Henry  VIII.,  to  Luke  Blake,  of  New  Ross,  county 
Wexford. 

At  Thomastown.    A  Dominican  friary. 

At  Tihrachy  on  the  Suir,  below  Carrick.  An  abbey,  where  St  Dom- 
inic lived  in  the  sixth  century ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

THE  KING'S  (County). 

At  Birr,  now  Parsonstown,  a  beautiful  town,  fifty-seven  miles  west 
of  Dublin.    An  abbey,  founded  by  St  Brebdan,  son  of  Neim.  .» 

At  Clonemgre.    An  abbey,  founded  by  St.  Pulcherius. 

At  Clonefertmidloe.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  sixth  century,  by  St 
Molua,  or  St  Luan,  the  son  of  Carthar,  of  Munster.  ClonefertmuUoe 
is  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship.  [Clone,  with  which  these  names 
are  compounded,  is  an  Irish  word,  and  signifies  enclosure;  And  ferta, 
another  Irish  word,  signifying  nUradea,  so  that  this  name  signifies  the 
t'miracle-retreatof  StMulloa."]       .k_ 


\^ 


.APPENDIX. 


390 


^••^ 


in 


At  ClonmaemMej  on  the  Shannon,  in  the  barony  of  Garycastle.  St 
Kieran  having  received  this  place,  and  the  Island  of  Saints,  together 
with  one  hundred  churches  in  Meath,  from  Dermid,  son  of  Cervail, 
monarch  of  Ireland,  and  having  bestowed  the  church  of  Clonard  upon 
his  master,  St.  Fin*  an,  and  the  island  upon  St.  jDomna%  he  founded,  in 
the  vear  548,  an  albey  for  himself  at  Clonmacnoise,  which  became  a 
celebrated  monastery.  Besides  a  cathedral  church,  there  were  ten 
small  churches  built  by  different  provincial  kings,  and  a  nunnery  with 
a  church,  which  was  accidentally  burnt  in  1180,  and  rebuilt  by  Uie 
Queen  of  Meath. 

At  Durrow.  A  monastery  of  Augustine  canons,  founded  in  the 
sixth  century,  which  flourished  in  learning  and  sanctity  for  many  ages, 
until  it  was  granted,  4  Elizabeth,  to  Nicholas  Herbert,  Haq.,  for  the 
term  of  twenty-one  years,  at  £10  yearly  rent,  now  worth  £200. 

At  Frwnkford,  formerly  called  Kilcormuck,  on  the  Shannon.  A  mon- 
astery of  Carmelites,  founded  by  Odo  O'Molly,  a  chief  of  that  country. 
In  the  year  1479  died  Charles  O'Molly,  a  brave  and  holy  man.  Tms 
house,  with  all  the  possessions,  was  granted  to  Robert  Leicester. 
^  At  Gailen.  A  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  492,  by  St.  Canoe ; 
granted,  with  all  the  possessions,  4th  June,  1612,  to  Sir  George  Moore, 
at  the  yearly  rent  of ^£15  7*.  lid.,  now  worUi  £307  18».  4rf. 

At  Uleane,  or  GZtn,  on  the  River  Brusna,  near  Firbance.  A  monas- 
tery, founded  by  St  Dermid,  whose  feast  is  held  on  the  8th  of  July ;  it 
stood  till  the  eleventh  century,  and,  of  course,  until  the  general  wsso- 
lution. 

At  KUcolgan.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  580,  by  St.  Colgan, 
in  the  barony  of  Garycastle. 

At  KUcolman.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  570,  near  the  parish 
of  Birr,  by  St.  Colgan,  son  of  Aengus,  King  of  Munster ;  now  a  Prot- 
estant place  of  worship. 

At  Kilcomin,  near  Roscrea.  An  abbey,  founded,  or  governed,  by 
St.  Cumene,  surnamed  ;the  White,  who  was  educated  in  the  abbey 
of,Hy. 

At  Kxllegaily.  An  abbey,  in  which  St.  Trena  was  abbot  in  the  sixth 
century ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in  the  barony  of  Gary- 
castle. 

At  Kilkigh.  A  priory  of  regular  canons,  in  which  the  Abbot  St. 
Sincheal  died  of  the  plague  in  the  year  550.  This  house,  18  Elizabeth, 
with  three  messuages,  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  acres  of  arable 
land,  twenty-four  of  pasture,  three  of  meadow,  and  four  of  wood,  and 
tnree  messuages,  six  cottages,  twenty-four  acres  of  arable  land, 
and  seven  of  pasture,  in  the  town  of  Donfeigh,  in  this  county,  with  the 
tithes,  &c.,  were  granted  to  Gerald,  Earl  of  K^dare,  and  ms  heirs,  at 
the  yearly  rent  of  £1  13».  4rf.,  now  worth  £33  6*.  8rf.,  with  the  con- 
dition that  he  ma^intain,  besides,  one  able  horseman. 

A  nunnery,  founded  by  the  Warren  family,  soon  after  the  arrival  of 
the  English.  A  Dominican  friary,  built,  iu  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  by 
O'Connor ;  granted  to  John  Allee. 

At  KMiaduin.  A  nunnery,  founded,  in  the  fiflh  century,  by  St. 
Keran,  for  his  mother  Liadana. 

At  Kinnitttfi  near  Birr.    An  abbey,  founded  in  the  year  557,  where 


*.:  .,. 


•r 


400 


APPENDIX. 


8t  Finian  wm  abbot  thtt  ytar.  In  the  year  871  died  Abbot  dolga 
M oConagan,  who  was  eateened  the  best  and  most  polished  poet  of 
those  days  in  the  kingdom,  and  the  principal  historian. 

At  Ltmant^ikan,  A  monastery,  in  which  St.  Maocfaan  died  of  the 
plagm  ki  the  year  661 ;  became  afterwards  a  Protestant  place  of 
worship. 

At  litUkmort,  A^  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  655,  bv  St 
Pnlcheriis — in  the  Irish  lattfluaff^,  Moehoemoc  Many  saints  and  holy 
abbots  floorished  here  until  Vae  dissolution. 

At  Lmnnatty»    A  moaasterjr,  founded,  516,  by  St  Colman. 

At  JmniHtroraa,  A  Franciscan  friary,  built,  1335,  by  Sir  John  of 
BenninffhAm,  Earl  of  Lonth ;  granted  to  Nicholas  Herbert. 

At  Jtnunuu  An  abbey,  founded  by  l^t  Finian  of  Clonard,  on  a  piece 
of  land  which  was  given  turn  by  the  King  of  Leinater,  Carbreus. 

At  RtOhkg,  An  abhey,  founded,  south  of  Birr,  by  St  Abban,  who 
vlied  in  the  year  650. 

At  RMltbiken,  in  the  barony  of  Fercal.  An  abbey,  founded,  bv  St 
Illand,  about  540 ;  his  statue  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  churchj  with  his 
nitre  and  crosier  in  his  hand. 

At  Be^tUush.  A  nunnery,  founded  by  St  Regnacia,  sister  to  St 
Finian,  who  tiled  in  the  year  563;  his  mother,  Tolacia^  was  abbess 
here;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Seirhtran,  four  miles  east  of  Birr.  A  monastery,  founded,  402, 
by  St  Kioran,  native  of  Cape  Clear,  in  the  county  of  Cork.  It  was 
consi^ed,  wiUi  all  ^  possessions,  in  the  year  1568,  to  Sir  WUliam 
Taafe,  who  assigned  it  to  James,  Earl  of  Roscommoik 

At  Tutkim.  A  monastery,  in  which  Abbot  Caraech  died  in  the 
year  556. 

LEITRIM  (CovNTT). 

At  AhoghduJ^f  near  Loughboffin.  An  abbey,  founded  in  the  year 
766 ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in  the  d,ioce8e  of  Ardagh.    r 

At  BcMegwtrai,  A  beautiful  monastery,  founded,  in  the  year  1518, 
by  Comelras  O'Brien ;  some  writers  attaen  this  place  to  the  county  of 
[Jongford. 

At  Clone.  An  lAbey,  formerly  of  great  repute,  founded,  about  the 
year  570,  by  St  Fraech ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in  the 
<diocese  <k  Ardagh. 

At  Oeeofea,  on  the  River  Boonid.  A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  in 
the  year  1508,  by  Margaret,  daughter  of  Lord  O'Brien,  and  wife  of 
Lord  O'Roirk ;  she  died  io  1512,  and  was  int^red  bere ;  dissolved  in 
the  reign  of  James  I.   > 

At  Doiremdkj  in  Lower  Breffiny.  A  mimery,-  founded  by  St 
Tigenach  for  his  mother,  St  Mella,  who  died  before  the  year  787. 

At  Droiicfoa*,  on  Loughgille.  A  monastery,  built,  by  St  Patrick, 
for  St  Bemgnus  {  now  a  Frotestant  place  of  worship. 

At  DromSutirt.    See  Creeolea. 

At  Fenamgh,  in  the  barony  of  Leitrira.  A  monastery,  in  which  St 
Callin  was  abbot  in  the  time  of  St  Columb.  This  place  was  formerly 
ooktoatMl  Ibr  the  scheal  of  diviu^,  and  waa  the  geneni  resort  of 


U' 


APPENDIX. 


401 


\\ 


students  from  all  parts  of  Europe ;  half  a  mile  fVom  the  edifice  is  a 
well,  dedicated  to  St  Callin ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in  the 
diocese  of  Ardagh. 

At  Jamestoum,    A  Franciscan  frianr. 

At  Kildareis,  or  Cell  of  the  Two  Palms  of  the  Hands ;  ealled  also  €ar* 
cuirshineill,  or  the  reclusory  of  St  Sinell,  is  situated  in  Lough  Melvin. 
St  Sinell,  Mrho  was  bell-founder  to  St  ^^atrick,  diid  in  the  vear  546. 

At  KUnaiU.    St  Natalii,  or  Naal,  was  abbot  of  the  abbey  Kere,  and  * 
died  in  the  ^ear  563 ;  the  festival  is  on  the  37th  of  January. 

At  Let^nm,  on  the  Shannon.  An  abbey,  in  which  St  McLeigus 
was  abbot. 

At  MokUL  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  608,  by  St  Manchan, 
who  was  the  patron  of  seven  churohes.  Many  glabes,  fees,  lands,  and 
tithes  were  given  to  this  house ;  they  were  valued,  at  the  dissolution, 
at  £3  6*.  8£,  now  worth  £46  13b.  Ad. 

At  TVloaWtng',  a  house  for  Gray  Friars,  founded,  in  1414,  by  Wil- 
liam O'Reily. 

LIMERICK  (CouNTT). 

At  Ahhiiyrton.  A  monastery,  founded,  for  the  Cistercian  monks,  in 
the  year.  liwS,  by  Theobald  Fitzwalter,  Lord  of  Carrick,  who  richly 
endowed  it  and  was  interred  here  in  the  year  1206.  December  o^ 
5  Elizabeth,  this  monastery  was  granted,  with  its  aj^prtenane^  m  tha 
counties  of  Limerick,  Kerry,  and  Carlow,  to  Peter  Walsbe,  at  the 
yearly  rent  of  £57  2«.  3c^,  Irish  money,  now  worth  £1143  Sf. ;  he  waft 
to  maintain  one  horseman  on  the  premises  besides. 

At  Ahht^tcd.    A  Cistercian  abbey,  built  in  the  year  1188. 

At  Adavrty  formerly  a  respeoj^lile  place,  though  now  but  a  miserable 
village.  A  friary  of  the  order^<«&jl^  Holy  Trinity,  founded*  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  I.,  by  John,  Earl  of  Kildare ;  granted,  37  EUauibeth, 
wiUi  all  the  possessions,-  together  with  the  possessions  of  the!  Qray 
Friars,  Preachiiuf  Friars,  and  Augustinian  Friars,  the  Abbey  of  Mon- 
asternenagh,  and  the  Nunnery  of  St.  Catharine,  to  Sir  Henr^  Wallop, 
at  t?^  0  rent  of  £26  17«.  8(/.,  now  worth  £537  13s.  4d.,  he  being  bound 
to  mv^r  cain  two  horsemen  on  the  premises. 

Augustine  friary,  founded,  about  1315,  by  John,  Earl  of  Kildare ; 
granted  to  Sir  Thomas  Wallop,  together  with  the  possessions.  Of  this 
mary  remain,  still  in  good  preservation,  the  steeple,  which  is  supported 
on  an  arch,  the  choir,  nave,  and  aisle ;  there  are  some  beautiful  clois- 
ters with  Gothic  windows,  the  sides  of  which  are  ornamented  with 
escutcheons  and  saltire  crosses  alternately ;  the  workmanship  is  both 
simple  and  elegant 

Gray  friary,  founded,  in  the  east  part  of  the  town,  in  the  year  1465, 
by  Thomas,  mitl  of  Kildare,  and  Joan,  his  wife,  daughter  to  the  Earl  of 
Desmond ;  they  presented  unto  'the  house  two  silver  chalices,  and  a 
bell  that  cost  £10,  now  worth  £200.  The  countess  was  interred  in 
the  choir  in  the  ]rear  1486. 

The  friary,  with  its  possessions,  sixteen  acres  of  land,  a  church, 
three  parks,  a  water  mill  and  watercourse,  with  a  fishing  wier  on  the 
River  Mage,  was  granted,  37  Elizabeth,  to  Sir  Henry  Wallq),  Knight 

U4* 


» 


403 


liPPBNDIX. 


^* 


At  Amft  in  the  barony  of  Small  County.  Aufostlne  friarv,  bailt,  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  by  aundiy  persona ;  mnted,  31  Elisabeth,  to 
Edward,  John,  and  Mary  Abiley,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £47  7«.  did., 
now  worth  £947  10«.  10(<. 

Mi  AtktaUniy  on  fhe  River  Deel.    There  was  a  castle  here  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  which  belonged  to  the  Earls  of  Desmond,  one  of' 
whom  ftnuided  a  monastery,  adjoining  the  castle,  for  Franciscans. 
"     At  BoK^nefrraW,  barony  of  Small  County.    A  friary  of  Conventual 
Franciscans,  founded,  thirteenth  century,  by  the  Clangibbon  family ; 
looted,  by  Henry  VIIL,  to  Robert  Browne. 

At  Ballmefnll.  A  monastery  for  Dominican  Friars,  founded,  by  the 
family  of  Kodie,  in  the  fourteenth  century ;  granted,  by  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, to  the  University  of  Dublin.  '' 

At  BalfynimUin.  A  house  for  Dominican  Friars;  granted,  by 
Henry  VIIl.,  to  Robert  Browne. 

At  CasUe-Totvn  Macnetuy.    A  large  monastery  in  ruins. 

At  Clunca^hf  near  Rathkeale.  A  convent,  built  by  St.  Maidoc,  of  - 
Ferns,  who  died  in  tne  year  634 ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. ' 

At  Croagh,  near  Rathkeale,  formerly  a  large  town ;  there  is  a  large 
church,  which  was  anciently  collegiate.  ,^ 

At  CrtUbtUl^  in  the  barony  of  Cashlea.  A  large  monastery,  founded^ 
by  the  O'Briens ;  the  ruins  thereof  which  are  yet  visible,  together  with 
.the  ruins  of  several  other  religious  foundations,  clearly  evince  the^ 
ancient  magniiicenoe  of  this  town.  This  monastery,  witii  three  gar- 
dens, six  messuages,  and  six  acres  of  arable  land,  were  granted,  35 
Henry  VIIL,  to  ^hn  Desmond,  forever,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  id,  Irishi .; 
now  worth  Gs.  8rf.  r: 

At  Greanyf  formeriy  a  town  of  corporation  in  the  barony  of  Coanagh. 
A  collegiate  church,  destroyed  when  the  town  fell  into  insignificance 
and  obscurity. 

HospUaL  This  town  took  its  name  from  a  celebrated  hospital  oT' 
Hospitalers,  which  was  founded,  in  the  reign  of  King  John,  by  Jeffirey 
de  Mariscis,  chief  governor  of  Ireland  in  the  year  1215.  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth granted  this  hospital,  and  all  the  possessions,  to  Sir  Valentine 
Brown,  ancestor  of  the  noble  family  of  Kenmare,  in  Killamey ;  he 
built  a  ma|pnficent  castle  on  the  venerable  ruins. 

At  KUdtmma,  near  Adaire.  A  monastery,  built  by  Dimma,  a  priest, 
who  was  the  preceptor  of  St  Declan. 

At  KUmaUock,  formeriy  a  repectable  walled  town,  but  now  a  i^iisera^^ 
ble  prioiy  of  regular  canons,  founded  by  St  Mocheallog,  who  died'^ 
about  639 ;  now  the  Protestant  place  of  worship.  f ^ 

Dominican  fnary,  founded,  in  the  year  1291,  by  Gilbert,  son  of  Lord '  j 
Offalley ;  granted,  36  Elizabeth,  with  the  possessions,  to  Nicholas 
Maigh,  sovereign,  and  the  corporation  forever,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £2 
I3s.  8d.,  now  worth  £53  13».  4rf. 

At  KUshane,  or  Kilshonna^  near  the  county  of  Cork.  A  Franciscan 
monastery,  founded  by  Fitzgerald,  Lord  of  Clenlis. 

A  Cistercian  abbey,  founded  in  the  year  11^. 

At  KiUeeL  A  Hospitaler's  commandery,  founded  in  the  barony  of 
Counagh. 

Ai  KUtddkUlt  in  the  territoiy  of  Ara.    An  abbey,  which  was  the 


0^" 


APPENDIX, 


4oa 


fltee  of  bterment  of  Ute  ■aints  Mtunli  and  Loinehuo^  dkciplet  of  8t 
'atrick,  and  of  aeven  other  holy  bishopa.   , 

Kynnetkh.  An  abbey  stood  there  in  the  yMur  1900,  and  we  may 
presume  thai  it  stood  until  the  ffeneral  devastation. 

At  Limtritk^  as  celebrated  for  its  brave  defence  against  King  WU-  ' 
liam,  in  the  year  1691,  as  for  tiie  infamous  treachery  on  his  part  in 
violating  the  articles  of  capitulation.    A  nunnery,  founded,  in  the  year 
1374,  hy  Donald  O'Brien,  King  of  Limerick.  ^ 

A  pnory  of  regular  canons,  founded,  by  Simon  Minor,  ^efore  the 
year  1319 ;  granted,  at  the  suppression,  to  £dmond  Sexton. 

A  Dominican  friary,  founaed,  in  the  year  1250,  by  Donogh  C. 
O'Arien,  King  of  Thomond.  In  the  year  1462  died  James,  son  of  the 
Elarl  of  Desmond ;  the  ancient  records  of  this  house  represent  them 
bound  to  celebrate  annual  masses  for  the  soul  of  this  nobleman,  and  for 
the  souls  of  his  parents  and  successors,  with  their  wives. 

Henry,  the  last  prior,  was  found,  at  the  suppression,  to  be  seized  of  the 
site,  church,  steeple,  dormitorv,  three  chambers,  a  cemetery,  and  sun- 
dry closes,  containing  one  and  a  half  acre,  within  the  precincts ;  a  gar>  ^ 
den  of  four  acres  wi^out  the  walls  of  tiie  monastery,  and  thirty  acree  * 
of  land,  called  Cortbrecke,  in  the  liberties ;  salmon  weir,  St  Thomas's 
Island,  and  land  near  Parteen,  called  Monabrahir.  This  house,  with 
all  the  possessions,  was  granted,  35  Henry  VIII.,  to  James,  flarl  of 
Desmond,  ut  eapiitf  at  the  yearly  rent  of  5«.  2(^.,  now  worth  £5  39.  4<(/. 
A  part  of  the  fnary  is  converted  into  a  tanyard,  and  a  large  barrack  ia 
buUt  on  the  other  part 

A  Gray  frianr,  rounded,  in  the  time  of  Henry  III.,  by  O'Brien,  of  the 
royal  houses  of  Limerick  and  Thomond,  outside  the  walls  of  the  city, 
on  the  spot  where  a  court  house  was  built,  which  is  since  converted 
into  &  hospital ;  granted  to  Edward  Sexton,  by  King  Hemy  Y1II.,  at 
the  yearly  rent  or2«.  2(/.,  now  worth  £2  3».  4<^,  though  by  a  valuation 
then  made  it  was  worth  a  great  deal  more. 

An  Augustine  fria^,  founded,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  by  O'Brien, 
of  the  kingly  race  of  Limerick  and  Thomond,  near  Quay  LAne ;  but  not 
a  trace  of  it  is  to  be  seen  now.  The  possessions  of  this  house  in  lands 
and  houses,  through  town  and  country,  were  valued  at  £8  6s.  1(2.,  now 
worth  £166  \s.  8d. 

A  hospital  of  Templars  stood  near  the  above  house,  but  not  a  ves- 
tige of  tms  either  is  to  be  seen. 

At  MiUown^  or  BaUyumUin.  A  Carmelites'  friary,  founded  by  Nel- 
lanO'MuUoy. 

At  Monakemtnagh,  in  the  barony  of  Poble  O'Brien.  A  Cistercian 
abbey,  founded,  by  O'Brien,  in  the  year  1151.  Th'^  house,  with  all 
Uie  possessions,  consisting  of  five  ploughlands,  and  many  other  revenues 
and  privileges,  was  granted  to  Sir  Henry  Wallop. 

At  MonasknuicaUiaghf  near  Lough  Girr.  An  Augustine  nunnery, 
to  which  belonged  the  rectories  of  Drishane,  CuUon,  Nohavel,  Kilmeen, 
and  DromtarifF,  in  the  county  of  Cork ;  granted  to  Sir  Henry  Wallop. 

At  Mungretj  three  miles  south  of  Limerick.  A  monastery,  built 
prior  to  the  coming  of  St  Patrick  to  Munster;  he  placed  St  Nessan 
over  it,  who  died  in  the  year  551.  The  Psalter  of  Cashell  relates  that 
there  were,  within  the  walls  of  this  abbey,  six  churches,  that  con- 


404 


APPENDIX. 


tained  1500  religions,  500  of  whom  were  learned  preachers,  500 
paalmiiti,  and  the  remaining  j500  engaged  in  spiritaal  exercises.  The 
rains  are  still  visible. 

At  ^ewcatlU,  Hospital  of  Templars  founded  here,  and  then  a 
walled  town,  which,  smoe  the  destruction  of  this  hospital  or  castle, 
fell  into  its  present  ^significance. 

At  jRo^Aeofe.    A  priory  of  Augustinians,  built  by  a  Mr.  Harvey. 

LONGFORD  (Couwtt). 

.4b6ey  ShruUf  near  the  River  Inny,  founded  by  O'Farrell,  for  Cister- 
cian  monks  ;  granted,  11  Elizabeth,  to  Robert  Dillon,  with  the  appur* 
tenances,  twenty-four  cottages,  in  the  town  of  Vore ;  one  hundrea  and 
eighty  acres  of  land  near  it ;  eighty  acres  of  pasture  and  underwood, 
near  said  town  also ;  one  messuage,  four  cottages  in  Cranaghe ;  sixty 
acres  near  said  town ;  two  messuages  and  four  cottages  in  Ballyna- 
manoffhe ;  sixty-four  acres  near  the  same,  for  the  yearly  rent  of  £10 
14«.  id.,  now  worth  £214  6v.  8{L 

At  ArdagK,  near  Longford.    A  monastery,  founded  by  St  Patrick. 

At  BaUyna8aggard.    A  Franciscan  friary,  built  by  the  O'Farrells. 

At  Clonebrone,  nearGranard.  A  nunnery,  founded  by  St.  Patrick, 
for  the  two  Emerias  of  St  Guasact,  -Abbot  of  Lerha.  This  great 
asylum  of  virgins  i^tood  until  the  year  1107,  and,  of  course,  untU  the 
general  dissolution  of  abbeys. 

At  Deirg,  or  Abbey  Deirg.  A  priory,  founded,  in  the  time  of  Joan, 
by  Gormgall  0'Q,uiIi ;  value,  at  the  suppression,  £2  yearly,  now  worth 
i^O ;  ff ranted  to  Nicholas  Aylmer. 

At  Inehftnory,  or  Greed  Island.  A  monastery,  founded,  by  St 
Columb,  about  the  year  450,  where  St  Boadon  of  Inismore  died,  on 
the  14th  January.    In  the  year  1414  died  Edward  McFinbair,  prior. 

At  Inx$boffi,n,  an  island  in  Lough  Rie.  An  abbey,  founded  by  St 
Risch,  son  of  St  Dorerca,  sister  of  St  Patrick. 

At  hdachihraimy  an  island  in  the  same  lough.  An  abbey,  founded, 
in  the  year  540,  by  St  Dhearmuid  Naoimbj  or  St  Jerome  the  Just, 
and  brothsiP  to  Felix,  Bishop  of  Kilmore,  who  wrote  a  learned  and 
pious  wo^  in  the  nature  of  a  psalter.  On  the  17th  December,  1160, 
died  GHIa,  or  Nehemias  0*Dunin^  professor  and  celebrated  scholar, 
poet,  and  historian. 

At  laland,  or  AU  Smnt»t  m  Lough  Rie.  A  noble  monastery,  built, 
in  the  year  544,  by  St  Kieran.  In  four  years  afterwards,  he  procured 
a  very  large  endowment  for  the  support  of  its  poor ;  and,  having  ap- 
pointed St.  Domnan  his  successor,  he  quitted  this  island,  and  built  the 
Abbey  of  Clonmacnoise. 

At  KilglasB.  A  nunnery,  where  St  Echea,  sister  of  Mell,  was 
abbess. 

At  KUinmore.  An  abbey,  founded  by  St  Palladius,  who  lived  in 
the  year  450 ;  now  the  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Lerha,  near  Granard.  A  monatitf.ery,  founded  by  St  Patrick  for 
St.  Guasacht,  the  son  of  his  old  master ;  another  monastery,  founded, 
in  the  year  1205,  by  Lord  Richard  Tuit,  who  was  killed  in  Athlone, 
in  the  year  1211,  by  the  falling  of  a  tower,  and  was  buried  here  *,  the 


■^-.r'' 

..-.#. 


APPENDIX. 


405 


poMesflioni,  at  the  rairender,  valaed  at  £8  ISi.  Ai,  yeatly,  now  worth 
£173  6*.^. 

At  LfMgfwd.  An  abbey,  fo»ncled  by  St.  Tdua,  §  diaoiple  of  St. 
Patrick,  wboee  feaat  fltlla  on  the  14th  Jul^.  In  1400,  a  fine  monaatarr 
waa  founded  by  OTarrell  for  the  Dominicaoa ;  granted,  together  with 
poaaessions,  in  the  year  161&  by  King  Jamea  I.,  to  Francia,  Viaconnt 
Valentia.  The  church  of  Una  prioiy  ia  now  the  Proteataat  plaoa  of 
worship  in  the  pariah.  * 

At  Moydoe,  three  milea  from  Ardagh.  St  Modan,  whoae  feaal  falla 
on  the  1^  February,  waa  abbot,  in  591. 

At  St.  JohfMoum,  There  waa  a  Grey  fHary  near  thia  town,  which 
had,  of  course,  been  ingulfed  in  the  general  vortex  of  the  reformation. 


'I 


«  ^ 


.  LOUTH  (CouifTY). 

At  Ardet.  A  Crouched  friary,  founded  bv  Roger,  Lord  Ardee,  for 
the  salvation  of  his  own  soul  and  the  souls  of  nis  wife  Alicia,  hia 
father  William,  his  mother  Joan,  his  brethren  Gilbert  and  Peter,  in  the 
year  1207,  for  the  Augustinians.  The  founder,  for  the  better  support 
of  this  house,  and  to  enable  the  friars  to  exercise,  more,  liberallv,  their 
works  of  mercv  and  charity,  granted  tliem  the  carucate  of  l^^nd  which 
Osmond  Doublcday  held ;  also,  full  liberty  to  bring  water  for  the  use 
of  the  house,  anJ  a  sufficient  cartway.  This  house  was  considerably 
endowed,  by  grants  and  donations  from  several  other  pious  Catholics. 
In  the  year  1612,  James  I.  granted  the  house  and  possessions  to  Sir 
Garret  More,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £115  5$.  &/.,  now  worth  £3305 
139.  Ad. 

A  Carmelite  friary,  founded  in  the  time  of  Richard  I.  In  the  vear 
31  Henry  VIIL,  Patrick,  the  last  prior,  surrendered  thia  house  and  all 
the  possessions,  valued  yearly  at  £1  7«.  2(/.,  now  worth  £27  3*.  4(/. 

Ardpatridc.    Church  founded  by  St.  Patrick. 

At  Carlingford.  A  Dominican  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1305,  by 
Richard  de  Burgh,  Earl  «f  Ulster ;  granted,  34  Henry  VlII.,  to  Nich- 
olas Bognell,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £4  69.  8d.,  now  worth  £86  13a.  4d. 

At  Drogheda.  A  priory  of  regular  canons,  celebrated  fo|r  the  synod 
held  there  by  Cardinal  Papiro,  in  the  year  1152. 

St.  Mary's  Hospital,  founded  by  TTrsis  de  Swemele,  who,  by  the 
consent  of  his  wife  Christiana,  bestowed  ou  this  house  all  his  lands 
and  rents  in  Ireland.  The  house  was  seized,  31  Henry  VIIL,  of  sixty 
acres  of  land  in  Glaspistell,  rent  139.  id. ;  thirty  acres  in  Carlingford, 
rent  439.  4^.  ,*  two  messuages  in  Dundalk,  rent  69. ;  two  acres  m  Sta- 
banane,  rent  29. ;  besides  some  other  rectories,  lands,  &.c.  vGranted 
to  the  mayor  of  Drogheda ;  rent  £1  149.  4(/.,  now  worth  £34  139.  6d. 

St  Laurence's  Priory ;  granted  to  the  mayor  of  Drogheda. 

A  Dominican  priory,  founded  in  the  year  1224,  by  Lucas,  Arch- 
bishop of  Armagh ;  granted,  35  Henry  YlII.,  with  all  the  possessions, 
to  Walter  Dowdel  and  Edward  Becke,«at  the  rent  of  29.  2c{.,  now 
worth  £2  39.  id. 

A  Franciscan  friary,  in  which  some  murderers  took  shelter,  and 
abjured  the  land,  in  the  year  1300 ;  granted,  34  Henry  VIII.,  to  Gerald 
Aylmer ;  rent  39.  6d.,  now  worth  £3  IO9. 


406 


APPENDIX. 


V 


^:^'- 


# 


'if' 


An  Augustine  fnary,  founded  in  the  time  of  Richard  I. ;  granted  to 
the  mayor,  &c.,  of  the  town. 

A  house  of  St.  Bennet ;  the  parliament  held  at  Drogheda,  in  the 
year  1467,  u^der  John,  Earl  of  Worcester,  the  lord  deputy,  it  was 
decreed  that  several  lands  and  rents  would  be  granted  to  this  house. 

At  Dromcar.  An  abbey,  in  •rhich  Ceallagh,  abbot,  died,  in  the  year 
811 ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship,  in  the  diocese  of  Armagh. 

At  Ulruim/ioinn,  An  abbey,  where  St.  Finian  was  abbot  and 
bishop,  in  the  time  of  St  Columb. 

At  Drumahallon.  A  noble  monastery,  founded  by  St.  Patrick.  In 
969,  the  Danes  plundered  and  possessed  this  house ;  it  reformed  in 
1247. 

At  DundaUc  A  hospital,  founded  for  the  sick  and  the  aged  of  both 
sexes ;  founded,  in  the  time  of  Henry  II.,  by  Berthram  de  Verdon,  lord 
of  the  towh ;  granted,  with  all  the  possessions,  in  town  and  country, 
1  Elizabeth,  to  'Henry  Draycot,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £11,  now  worth 
£220. 

A  Gray  friary,  built,  in  the  time  of  Henry  III.,  by  Lord  John  de 
Verdon ;  granted,  35  Henry  VIII.,  to  James  Brandon,  at  the  fine  of 
£9  10a.,  and  rent  6rf.,  now  worth  £190  10s. 

At  FavgheKf  the  native  place  of  St.  Brigid.  A  nunnery,  foundeJ  by 
St.  Monenna,  in  the  year  638,  where  she  presided  over  150  virgins, 
but  resigned  it  to  Orbilla,  or  Sirvila,  and  built  another  nunnery  for 
herself  at  Kilsleive,  in  the  coimty  of  Armagh. 

A  priory  of  canons,  built  in  the  early  ages,  and  now  become  the 
Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Iniskxn.  A  monastery,  built  by  St.  Dageus,  smith  to  St.  Kieron ; 
is  now  Protestantized. 

At  Kxlcloghert  on  the  Boyne.  A  monastery,  founded  by  St.  Nectan, 
nephew  to  SL  Patrick ;  now  Protestantized,  also. 

At  KUsaran.  A  commandery  of  Templars,  founded,  in  the  twelfth 
century,  by  Maud  de  Lacie ;  it  was  given  to  the  Hospitalers,  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  II.    This  house  was  rich  in  lands. 

At  Knock,  near  Louth.     An  Augustine  priory,  founded,  in  the  year 

*1148,  by  Donchad  Hua  Kervail,  prince  of  that  country,  and  Eadan, 

Bishop  of  Clogher.    This  house  and  all  the  possessions  were  granted, 

31  Henry  VIII.,  to  Sir  John  King,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £16  5s.  4rf., 

now  worth  £325  6s.  8d. 

^  At  Louth.  A  noble  monastery  and  school,  founded  by  St.  Patrick 
for  St  Mocteus  or  Mochtalugh,  a  Briton,  who  died  19th  August,  534, 
at  the  age  of  three  hundred  years.  The  house  and  immense  posses- 
sions were  granted  to  Sir  Oliver  Plunket. 

At  Mellifont,  five  miles  from  Drogheda.  A  Cistercian  abbey,  built 
by  Donogh  McCarrol,  Prince  of  Uriel,  to  which  St  Bernard  sent  the 
monks  from  the  Monastery  of  Clairvaux  in  France,  in  the  year  1143. 
A  great  synod  was  held  there  in  the  year  1157,  at  which  assisted  the 
Archbishop  of  Armagh,  thtf  then  pope's  legate,  together  with  many 
bishops  and  princes  ;  on  this  occasion,  many  rich  presents  were  made 
to  the  abbey,  particularly  by  Murchertach  O'Loughlainn,  King  of  Ire- 
land ;  he  gave  140  oxen,  60  ounces  of  gold,  and  a  town  land  near 
Drogheda,  called  Finnabhuir  Naninghean ;  O'Carrol,  Prince  to  Uriel, 


gav 
Bre 


r». 


^ 


Ai'PENDIX. 


407 


gave  60  ounces  of  gold;  Dervorgilla,  wife  ofO'Rourke,  Prince  <^ 
Breffiny,  gave  60  ounces  of  gold,  a  gold  chalice  for  the  high  altar,  and 
vestments  for  nine  other  altars  in  the  same  house.  This  house,  and  its 
extensive  possessions,  were  granted,  in  the  year  1641,  to  Sir  Gerald 
Moore. 

At  Monasterboiee.  A  religious  house,  founded  by  St.  Bute,  who 
died  7th  December,  521.  We  find  that  it  continued  a  celebrated  school 
of  religion,  and  both  profane  and  sacred  literature,  until  the  twelfth 
century,  and  doubtless  until  the  fifteenth. 

At  Terfeckan,  A  monastery,  founded  in  the  year  665.  A  nunnery,, 
founded,  in  the  year  1195,  by  McMahon.  By  an  inquisition,  taken  33 
Henry  VIII.,  the  last  abbess,  Margaret  Hobbert,  was  found  to  be  seized 
of  one  hall,  two  houses  in  a  ruinous  state,  a  haggard,  park  wood,  three 
gardens  within  the  precincts  of  the  convent,  valued,  besides  reprises, 
as,  Ad. ;  two  messuages,  two  gardens,  three  parks,  and  five  acres  of 
land  in  Termonfeghan,  value,  besides  reprises,  lis.  Ad. ;  6ight  mes- 
suages, three  paiks,  six  acres  and  three  stangs  of  land,  and  one  of 
meadow,  in  Killiligger,  value  £1 ;  thirteen  messuages,  four  parks,  one 
hundred  acres  of  arable  land,  and  four  of  meadow,  and  twenty  of  pas- 
ture, in  Killaghton,  annual  value,  besides  reprises,  £4  8».,  and  the 
church  or  rectory  of  Killaghton,  value  50».  ,*  making  together  £8  18s, 
8d.,  now  worth  £178  Ids.  id. ;  granted,  20tli  April,  1578,  to  Catharine 
Bruton. 


^v. 


MAYO  (County). 

At  tSghagower^  five  miles  from  Ballintobber.  A  monastery,  built  by 
St.  Patrick,  for  St.  Senach ;  now.a  Protestant  place  of  worship. ' 

At  Aghamore.  A  monastery,  built,  by  St  Patrick,  for  his  disciple 
St.  Loarn ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Annagh.  A  Franciscan  friary  ;  worth  13».  Ad.^  now  worth  £13 
69.  d)d. ;  it  stood  to  the  year  1440,  when  Walter,  Lord  Mc William 
Oughter  died  there. 

At  Bcdlagh,  in  the  barony  of  Clonmorris.  An  abbey,  built  by  St. 
JVIochuo,  who  was  the  first  abbot  of  it,  and  died  in  the  year  637,  whose 
feast  falls  on  the  1st  January. 

At  BaUentuUy,  A  monastery,  worth,  at  the  suppression,  eight 
quarters  of  land,  valued  each  13s.  4(i.,  now  £13  6s.  9d.  each,  or  £106 
VSs.  4d. 

At  Bcdlyhaunes.  An  Augustine  friary,  which  was  founded  by  the 
Nangle  family,  and  which,  according  to  an  inquisition  held  12tli  May, 
1608,  possessed  twelve  acres  of  land. 

At  Ballinay  un  the  River  Moy.     An  abbev ;  suppressed. 

At  Ballynasmall.  A  Carmelite  friary,  munded,  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  by  the  Prendergasts ;  Donogbuy  O'Gormealy  was  the  last 
prior,  and  possessed,  at  the  suppression,  lands  worth  yearly  13».  4rf., 
now  worth  £13  69.  8a.  ,*  granted  to  Sir  John  King. 

At  Bdllinrobe.  An  Augustine  friary ;  by  an  inquisition,  held  27  Eliz- 
abeth, the  possessions  were  worth  lis.  lOd.,  now  worth  £14  16*.  8d. 

At  BaiUntobbert  or  Town  of  Well.  An  Augustine  abbey,  fonnded, 
in  the  year  1216,  by  Cathol  CyConogher,  King  of  Connaught    Inqui- 


■^■-i  ' 


# 


408 


APPENDIX. 


sition,  held  36  Elizabeth,  found  thi8%  house  possessef*  of  many  lands ; 
granted,  in  the  year  1605,  to  Sir  John  King. 

At  Boghmoyen,    A  Franciscan  friary ;  <»sso1ved. 

At  Bophin  hland,  in  the  Ocean,  tvirelve  miles  fixivii!  the  barony  of 
Morisk.  An  abbey,  founded,  in  the  year  667,  by  St.  Colman ;  in  the 
year  916  died  Abbot  Fearadagh. 

At  Borriscarra.  A  Carmelites'  friary,  which  Pope  John  XXIII. 
gave,  in  the  year  1412,  to  the  Augustine  friars ;  at  the  general  suppres- 
sion it  possessed  one  quarter  of  land,  then  valued  at  ]§9.  4«if.,  now  £13 
6».  8<f. 

At  Boiqfinan.  A  Franciscan  friary,  possessed  at  the  suppression,  in 
the  year  1608,  four  quarters  of  land  and  their  appurtenances. 

At  Burishool.  A  Dominican  friary,  built,  as  appears  from  the  bull 
of  Pope  Innocent  VIII.,  dated  9th  February,  1486,  by  Richard  de 
Burke,  Lora  Mc  William  Oughter,  and  tlie  head  of  the  Turlogh  family ; 
consigned  to  Theobald  Vincent  Castillogalen. 

At  C/ara,' an  island  near  the  town  or  Morisk.  A  Carmelite  friary, 
founded  in  the  year  1224. 

At  Cong,  fofmerly  the  royal  residence  of  the  kings  of  Connaught, 
now  but  a  miserable  village.  A  magnificent  monastery,  built  by  St. 
Fechan,  who  died  in  664.  JQneas  McDonnell,  the  last  abbot,  surren- 
dered it  at  the  general  suppression ;  granted,  10th  December,  1605,  to 
Sir  John  King,  ancestor  to  the  Earl  of  Kingstone,  county  of  Cork.  The 
ruins  of  several  churches  are  seen  there. 

At  Cross.  A  monasteiy,  belonging  to  the  abbey  of  Ballintobber.  By 
an  inquisition,  held  27  Elizabeth,  it  possessed  lands  then  valued  at 
13».  4rf.,  now  £13  6s.  8d. 

At  Crossmalyne.  An  abbey.  In  1306,  three  men  were  indicted  lor 
assaulting  and  imprisoning  the  abbot,  and  for  taking  away  his  goods 
and  chattels,  to  the  amount  of  ten  marcs.  By  an  inquisition  of  27  Eliz- 
abeth, this  house  possessed  four  quarters  of  land,  each  valuing  13s.  id., 
now  worth  £13  6*.  8d.  each,  or  £53  2*.  8rf.  the  four.  , 

At  Damnacmor.    An  abbey,  founded,  by  St.  Patrick,  for  St.  Muckna. 

At  Erew.  A  friary,  erected  at  the  extreme  end  of  Erew,  which  is  a 
peninsula,  stretching  out  in  the  barony  of  Tirawley,  in  whi''h  St.  Leo- 
gar  was  abbot ;  his  feast  is  held  on  the  30th  September.  By  an  inqui- 
sition of  27  Elizabeth,  it  possessed  one  quarter  of  land,  then  worth 
13s.  Ad.,  now  £13  6».  8rf. 

At  Inchmean,  an  island,  where  there  was  an  abbey,  in  which  Maoli- 
osa,  son  of  Thurlogh  O'Connor,  was  abbot,  in  the  year  1223. 

At  Jnistormor.  An  Augustine  friaryi  built,  by  Eugene  O'Gorman 
and  Thady  McFirbiss,  on  a  spot  of  ground  which  was  granted  them, 
in  the  year  1454,  by  Thady  O'Doud,  which  grant  was  confirmed  by  a 
bull  of  Pope  Nicholas  V. 

At  KUkcraw.  A  religious  house ;  was  seized,  at  the  inquisition  of 
30  Elizabeth,  of  some  lands  worth  6».  yearly,  nqw  worth  £6. 

At  KUledan.  A  Franciscan  friary ;  possessed,  at  the  inquisition  of 
1608,  several  lands  and  tenements. 

At  Killetrynode,  or  the  Abbey  of  the  Trinity ;  endowed  with  a  quarter 
of  land. 

At  Ki^nian.    An  abbey,  founded  by  St.  Finian. 


A 


APPENDIX. 


409 


At  KUmormoyhf  in  the  barony  of  Tirawley.  A  monastery,  founded 
by  St.  Olcan,  disciple  of  St  Patrick ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  wor- 
ship in  the  diocese  of  Killala. 

At  Kilnegarvan.  A  church,  founded  by  St  Fechan,  who  died  in  the 
year  664. 

At  KUveny.  A  Franciscan  friary,  which,  according  to  an  inquisition 
of  27  Elizabeth,  was  worth,  in  lands  and  tenements,  13*.  Ad.  yearly, 
now  worth  £13  6s.  8d. 

At  Kyllyn.  An  abbey  was  founded,  and  endowed,  at  the  same  timej 
of  some  lands  and  tithes. 

At  Mayo.  A  priory  of  regular  canons,  founded,  in  the  year  670,  by 
St  Colman,  who  came  over  from  Landisfarne,  Northumberland.  He 
was  followed  hither  by  St.  Gerald  and  his  three  brothers,  with  three 
thousand  disciples  from  England.  Many  illustrious  saints  and  great 
men  lived  and  died  here ;  granted,  20  Elizabeth,  to  the  burgesses  and 
corporation  of  Galway ;  rent,  £26  12s.,  now  worth  £532.  s 

A  nunnery,  in  which  St.  Segretia,  the  abbess,  (sister  to  St  Gerald,)  ' 
and  one  hundred  virgin  nuns,  died  of  the  plague  in  the  year  664.     ' 

At  Morisk,  a  town  on  the  Bay  of  Newport  An  Augustine  friary, 
founded  by  the  O'Maillies,  lords  of  the  country ;  at  the  suppression 
it  possessed  lands  valued  at  139.  4d.,  now  worth  £13  6s.  8d, 

At  Moyne.  A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1460,  by  Wil- 
liam O'Rourke ;  granted,  37  Elizabeth,  to  Edmund  Barrett,  with  all 
the  possessions,  at  59.  rent,  now  worth  £5. 

,  At  Rathbran.  A  Dominican  friary,  founded  by  the  Dexter  family ; 
granted,  in  the  year  1577,  to  Thomas  Dexter ;  the  venerable  ruins  of 
Sie  sacred  edifice  stand  there  amidst  a  few  wretched  cabins. 

At  Rosserick.  A  Franciscan  friary,  built  by  a  Mr.  Joice ;  granted 
to  James  Garvey.  There  is  here,  and  also  in  Moyne,  a  confessional 
of  hewn  stone,  for  two  confessors  to  sit  in.  and  a  hole  in  each  side  for 
the  penitents  to  speak  through. 

At  Strode,  on  the  Moy,  near  Athlethan.  A  Franciscan  friary,  built  <:. 
by  the  sept  of  Mc Jordan,  but  it  was  given  to  the  Dominicans  in  the  /* 
year  1252,  by  Jordan,  of  Exeter,  Lord  of  Athlethan,  at  the  request  of  ^ 
Basilia  his  wife,  daughter  of  Lord  Meiler,  of  Birmingham  *,  on  the  18th  « 
of  March,  1434,  Pope  Eugene  IV.  granted  several  indulgences  to  this 
house ;  granted,  30  Elizabeth,  to  Patrick  Barnwell. 

At  Tannancarra,    A  nunnery  ;  stood  in  the  peninsula  of  Mullet 

At  Urlare,  in  the  barony  of  Costello.    A  Dominican  friary,  founded 
by  the  Wangle  family,  who  afterwards  took  the  name  of  Costello,  and 
became  lords  of  the  barony.  The  Dominicans  settled  there  in  the  year  ^ 
1430.  The  house  underwent  two  inquisitions,  one  on  the  12th  of  May, 
1608,  the  other  on  the  24th  of  May,  1610 ;  granted  to  Lord  Dillon. 

-■■^"\.  ^'^'''■■■'  '  MEATH  (County). 

At  Jkdhraccan,  a  village  in  the  barony  of  Navan.    An  abbey. 

At  Jirdcath,  a  village  near  Duleck.  A  church  or  perpetual  chantry ; 
a  priest  was  stationed,  with  the  obligation  of  celebrating  mass ;  the 
chantry  was  a  body  corporate.  The  inquisition,  held  14  James,  found 
it  in  possession  of  some  lands  against  the  statute. 

35.     .  ,     ..       .    „...:.    ..:.J 


Jl' 


^ 

J 


-# 


410 


Appendix. 


«' 


AtwJmlmuldkan,  near  Paiha-towxi.  There  wtui  a  parishi  ehurch ;  a 
^^e^taal  omintry  of  one  priest ;  but  the  inquisition  of  10  James  found 
It  in  possession  of  lands  against  the  statute,  which,  of  course,  was  suf- 
flciem  cause  for  suppressing  it ;  value  17«.  annually,  now  £17. 

At  ArdaaUa^hf  a  village  on  the  Boyne.  A  monastery,  founded  by 
St.  Fiklian,  who  died  12th  December^  SS^. 

At  Atfililfg.  A  CarmiBlite  friary,  founded,  on  a  site  which  was  given 
by  William  of  London,  in  the  year  1517.  This  fUary,  with  eleven 
tnessttt^iB,  three  cellars,  one  orchard^  and  six  gardens,  in  Athbcy,  with 
four  acres  of  meadow,  called  the  friar*Fi  mea^w,  in  Advenston,  were 
granted,  34  Henry  Yin.,  to  Thomas  Casey,  forever,  at  the  yeariy  rent 
of  3r.,  now  worth  £3. 

At  BaUyhogan^  or  Priory  De  Laude  DeL  An  Augustine  fUary, 
founded,  in  the  twelfth  century,  bv  Jordan  Gomin.    This  house  was 

J  ranted,  34  Henrv  VIII.,  to  Lord  Cfarbrav,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £4  3*. 
cL  now  worth  £83  6*.  8d. ;  sonie  of  the  possessions  w'ere  granted, 
4,  EliziB.beth,  to  Edward  FitEfferald. 

At  Seauhte.  A  church  of  St  Mary  and  St  Laurence,  endowed,  in 
<h6  ireign  of  King  John,  1^  Walter  de  Lacie ;  stood  until  the  fourteenth 
eetituiy,-  ind,  witiiout  doubt,  until  the  general  dissolution.  i 

At  B9et{fft  near  Trim.  A  Cistercian  monajstery^  founded,  in  the  yeat 
114^  by  Murchard  O'Melaghlin,  King  of  Meath;  Surrendered,  34 
Henry  VHl.,  with  all  the  possessions. 

AXClonard,  An  abbey  of  canons,  founded  by  St  Finian.  This 
Ibbey,  with  all  the  possessions,  was  granted,  6  Edward  VL,  to  Thomas 
Cttsaoke,  ikt  the  yearly  rent  of  £8,  now  worth  £160 ;  some  of  Ihe  pos- 
sessions were  ffranted,  8  Elizabeth,  to  Richard  Hayne ;  rent  £3  8f.  6d.j 
itow  iforth  £68  IQ9, ;  another  parcel  of  the  possessions  was  'granted, 
186  miztibeth,  to  William  Browne. 

At  C^pe,  a  village  on  the  Boyne.  An  Hhhej^  Of  regular  canons, 
founded,,  m  the  year  1183,  by  Hugh  de  Lacie.  **  At  the  suppression 
cf  monasteries,  the  prior  was  seized  of  the  following  tithes  in  Meath: 
tSolpe,  e^t  cotlple  of  com ;  Newtown,  one  and  half;  St  James,  one ; 
FylraBton,  one ;  Ballangstone,  four  and  half;  P^miston,  two  and  half." 
.  .A  Diatrttola.  An  abbey,  founded  bySt  Tola,  who  was  made 
HiShop  of  Ctonard,  and  died  in  the  year  733.  This  house  stood  xOHdl 
the  twelfth  century. 

At  Ihnmtgdtnejf.  A  nunnery,  granted  to  Miss  Drayeot,  who  mar- 
ried a  Mr.  ^^ilbot 

At  pwiuigh  Patrick.    Ah  abbey,  founded  by  Conol  O^eil. 

At  Drpfmtda,  A  priory  of  Hospitalers,  founded  in  the  time  of  Joan, 
or  pirinb^^ly  endowed  by  Widter  de  Lacie.  It  possessed  immense 
revenues,  thou^  they  were  granted,  6  Edward  Vl.,  to  James  Sed- 
grave,  for  IO9.  lOd.  yearli^  ren^  now  worth  £210. 

A  Carmelite  friaiy,  built  by  the  inhabitants  of  Drogheda.  There 
were  two  {[rants  made,  one  by  the  corporation,  in  the  time  of  Edward 
IL,  of  eijp^  virgates  of  lanjl,  and  another  by  William  Messager,  of 
Il^rii^a,  in  the  time  of  Edward  HI.,  in  the  year  1346,  of  four  acres 
of  Inid  to  the  friars,  for  the  parpcMse  of  maintaining  li^ts  before  the 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  m  uus  church. 

At  Dvkdc  An  abbey,  the  ektensive  possessions  of  which  were 
granted,  10  James  L,  to  Sir  Gerald  Moor. 

*^ ' 


APPENDIX. 


411 


by 


iijit 


■m  4 


A  prionr  of  the  Vir^  Maiy^  flevMal  lacpikkbM  ^ren  beiiA  on  this 
hxmae ;  all  the  poafleMiom  wore  granted  to  Sit  Gendd  Ifdir }  rant  dB9 
lU.  Id.,  now  worth  £191  11*.  8(2. 

A  hoMpital,  founded  before  the  year  1408. 

At  i)unMhe^hlin,    A  church,  fooiKied  by  St  Sea<Alaib 

At  tndtnen,  near  iSlane.    An  abbey.  »f 

At  KeUs.  A  celebiwted  monaatenr,  founded  about  the  year  550. 
Henry  Vltt.  granted  it,  in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of  hifl  reign,  to  Gerald 
Henun^  and  to  Sir  Crerald  Plnaket 

A  pitory  or  hoe^tal,  founded  in  this  toini,  'tn  the  time  of  Richard  I., 
by  Walter  de  Lacie,  Lord  of  Meath.  This  house  was  surrendered  by 
the  hst  pior,  with  the  several  poasesnons,  31  Henry  VIII.,  and  grant- 
ed, 6  Elizabeth,  to  Richard  Slayne,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £14  10».,  now 
wonh£3d0. 

A  chantiy  for  three  priests. 

At  JSIfrerry,  near  Navan.    A  chantiy  of  two  priests  or  ehaplaine. 

At  KUken.  A  priory  of  canons,  founded,  by  St  Eudeus,  in  the 
.year  540. 

A  nunneiy^  built)  by  St  Eudeus,  previoas  to  the  yeiAr  580. 

At  jKSlmmnhambi^f  twelve  miles  north  of  Navan.  A  conunandltfy 
of  Templars,  found^,  in  the  time  of  Ridiard  L,  by  Walter  de  Lacie, 
Lend  of  Meath.  This  CfwonMUBdery  waijeranted,  23  iSizabeth,  to  Sir 
t^atrick  Bamwall,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £63  199.  flkd.,  now  worth  £1330 
4a.  '2d. ;  now  the  church. 

At  KUmednkam  Wood.  A  commandeiiy  of  Hospitalers,  bmh,  in  the 
thirteenth  coitiuy,  by  the  Prestons ;  granted,  88d  September,  1587^  to 
Ilenry  Duke,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £4  10».,  now  worth  £90. 

At  KUMre^    An  abbey,  founded  in  the  year  580. 

At  JUtmuttm,  near  Tanih.  A  nunnery,  founded  in  the  year  1340. 
I^his  house,  with  its  valuable  possessions,  was  granted,  33  Henry  V III., 
to  Gerald,  Eaii  of  Kildtoe,  and  to  Mabell  Bb  wife,  and  to  Robert 
Harrison.  ' 

At  Lovfth  SkSUeKi  near  Cavan.  A  fHary,  built  on  an  udand  in  this 
lake,  which  is  still  a  remarkable  hnryintr  pfoce. 

At  Mnan.  A  monastery,  built  or  rebuilt  in  the  twelfth  century,  by 
Joceline  de  Angolo,  or  Nangle ;  it  stood,  with  a  great  deal  of  celebrity, 
until  31  Henry  VIII.;  it  was  granted,  with  all  the  possessions ;  the 
hoiee-^bBrrack^i  «ow  eret^d  on  the  site  of  it 

At  ^eutovm*  A  priory  of  canons,  founded,  in  the  year  1306,  by 
dimon  de  Rochfort;  it  flourished  for  many  centuries,  and  possessed 
many  valuable  lands  and  tenements ;  granted  by  the  Parliament,  in  the 
year  1536,  to  Kii^  Henry  VHI. ;  he  granted,  in  1550,  a  pared  of  them 
to  Heniy  Draycot,  at  £4  yearly  rent,  now  worth  £80. 

A  pnory  or  hospital  of  Gross-bearers,  or  Crouched-friars,  found- 
ed, by  the  Bishop  of  Meath,  in  the  thirteenth  century ;  granted  to 
Robert  Dillon. 

At  Odder.  A  nunnery,  founded,  by  the  Bamwall  fkmily,  before  the 
vear  1195 ;  this  house,  and  all  (he  possessions,  were  granted,  15  Eliza- 
beth, to  Riohaid  Power. 

At  Pientown.    An  abtMsy,  founded  in  the  early  a^. 

At  Rafho$9ain.  A  BaooBsteiy,  founded  by  St  Ossian,  who  died  17th 
^February,  686. 


-ft 


412 


APPENDIX. 


At  JZerfflot^  thirteen  miles  north  o^Dablin.  An  abbey,  that  possessedf 
in  the  reiiRrof  Hemy  III.,  forty  acres  of  land,  value  6»,  8d.,  now  worth 

A  chantry  for  three  priests ;  by  the  inqnisition  of  Heniy  VIIL,  they 
were  found  to  possess  some  lands  contrary  to  statute,  and  were  sup- 
pressed. 

At  Roffe,  near  Tarah.  An  abbey,  founded  by  St  Coeman  Breae, 
who  died  14th  September,  614 

At  Shrine.  An  abbey  of  regular  canons ;  granted,  34  Henry  VIII., 
to  Thomas  Cusack,  at  the  rent  of  5d.,  now  worth  8s.  M, 

A  chantry. 

At  Slant.  An  abbey  of  regular  canons ;  this  house,  with  all  the 
possessions,  was  granted,  dSi  Henry  VIII.,  to  James  Fleming,  knight ; 
rent  Id.  yearly,  now  wortii  Is.Sd., 

At  TeUotpn^  or  EUUdton.  A  church,  founded  by  St  Abbon ;  now 
a  Protestant  place  of  worehip. 

At  Trevet.    A  large  monastery. 

At  Trim,  A  maniificent  monastery,  founded  by  St  Patrick.  This 
house  was  ffranted,  34  Henry  VIIL,  with  all  the  lands,  &c.,  to  Anthony 
St  Lege^,  knight  ^ 

A  (my  friaiy,  founded  by  King  John,  but  granted,  with  all  the  \ 
appurtenances,  34  Henry  VIII.„to  Lodwicke  O'Tudorj  parson  of  Ros- 
laye,  John  Moyre,  parson  of  Walteraton,  and  John  Wakely ;  rent  £2 
10».,  now  worth  £50  IO9. 

A  Dominican  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1963,  by  JefiVey  de  Gen-^ 
yille,  lord  of  Meath;  there  was  a  great  sjrnod  held  in  this  church,  in 
the  year  1291. 

A  priory  of  Cross-bearers,  a  magnificent  buUdi^-;  ^tm  Pitriiament, 
in  the  sears  1484, 1487,  and  1491,  was  held  in  th»  Iweioas  hall  of  it ; 
granted,  with  all  the  possessions,  to  Sir  ThmgUliClJMi^  37  Henry 
VIII.,  at  the  rent  of  8».  5d.  yearly,  now  worth'i|P  lib  M ' 

A  nunnery,  foiuuded  by  some  person  uiduMAii^ 

A  church  of  Grecians,  founded  very 

A  chantry  for  three  priests. 


MONAGHAN 

At  CUmeSf  a  small  town.    A 
granted  the  house  and  possessi 
to  Sir  Heniy  Duke. 

At  Monaghan.  A  moi 
eighth  century ;  granted 
a  castle  on  the  site. 

At  TthdUanj  in  the 
which  St  KiUian  was  _ 


Wnmim^m«m ;  Elizabeth 
rmmmOitimx  of  her  l^ign, 

St  Moeldpni^  before  the 
;  Lord  91ancy  has  erected 

of'  Monaghaii.    A  religious  house,  in 


€|U£EN*S  (Couimry 

Ahhe^  LeiXf  founded,  in  ^e  year  1183,  b^  Gorcherger  0*Moore,  for 
Cistercian  monks.  There  were  two  inqniBilions  held  on  this  house, 
one  5  Edward  VI.,  and  th6  othor  5  |3utabeth,  when  the  lands  were 


-f*  * 


APPENDIX. 


413 


estimated  at  eight  hundred  and  twenty  aerea,  and  were  let  to  the  Earl 
of  Ormond  for  £10  5*.  yearly  rent,  now  worth  £305. 

At  ^hcAotf  four  miles  from  Montrath.  A  magnifioent  monasteiy, 
founded  bv  St  Canice.  The  monastery,  with  its  appurtenances,  was 
grantid,  43  Elizabeth, -to  Florence  Fitzpatrick;  rent  £5  18*.,  now 
worth  £118. 

At  ^hmacartf  four  miles  west  of  Durrow,  Upper  Ossory.  An  abbey, 
built  about  the  year  550 ;  also  a  prionr,  grantect,  43  Elizabeth,  together 
with  several  ower  monasteries,  and  parcels  of  their  possessions,  to 
Florence  Fitzpatrick,  at  the  rent  of  £36  89.  fid.,  now  worth  £738 
3«.  id. 

At  Annatrimy  in  Upper  Ossoiy.  An  abbey,  founded  about  the  year 
550 ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  wors^iip. 

At  Cionerw^hj  a  village  in  the  barony  of  Maryborough.  A  magnif- 
icent monasterv,  founded  bv  St.  Fintan ;  it  is  now  a  Protestant  ^ace 
of  worship  in  the  diocese  of  Lei^lin. 

At  Cluain  Chaoin.    An  ancient  monasterv. 

At  Desert  Enos,  two  miles  south-east  of  Maryborough.  This  is  now 
called  Desert,  and  is  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in  the  diocese  of 
Leighlin. 

At  De^rt  Odrainj  in  the  territory  of  Hyfalgia. 

At  KUUddigt  in  Upper  Ossory.    A  monastery,  now  a  church. 

At  ISUehane,  four  miles  south-west  of  Athy.  A  sumptuous  abbey, 
built,  by  St  Abban,  about  the  year  650;  now  a  church. 

At  KtUermoghy  in  Upper  Ossory.  An  abbey,  built,  by  St  Golumb, 
about  the  year  558 ;  now  a  place  of  worship. 

At  LwmtihuUl.  An  abbey,  built,  by  St.  Fintonchorach,  in  the  sath 
centuiy. 

At  Mundrehidf  in  Upper  Ossory.  A  monastery,  built,  by  St  Lasren, 
in  the  year  600. 

At  Uoastuirc  An  abbey,  near  the  mountain  of  Slieve  Bloom,  gov- 
erned by  St  Brendan. 

At  Sletty,  near  Garlow.    An  abbey,  by  St  Ficah. ' 

At  StratUiaUy.  A  Franciscan  friary,  rounded,  in  the  twelfth  century, 
by  Lord  O'Mora ;  granted,  with  all  uie  possessions,  in  the  year  1593, 
to  Francis  Cosbey,  by  knight's  service,  or  the  twentieth  part  of  a 
knight's  fee,  and  at  the  annual  rent  of  £17  69.  Sd.,  now  worth  £346  5s. 

At  Timohoe.  A  monastery,  built  by  St  Mochoe,  who  died  in  the 
year  497 ;  there  is  a  round  tower,  with  some  ruins  of  the  ancient  build- 
mg,  to  be  seen  yet 


%, 


ROSCOMMON  (County). 

At  Atdeama^  in  the  barony  of  Boyle.  An  abbey  of  regular  canons ; 
granted,  39  Elizabeth,  to  the  provost  and  fellows  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  with  eighty  acres  of  laud  in  Cloncalliagh,  six  acres  of  land  in 
KilgeSn. 

A  nunnery  of  Benedictines,  which  was  a  cell  to  the  abbey  of  Kil- 
creunata,  in  the  county  of  Galway. 

At  ^thdaiaragh.  An  abbey  of  canons,  where  Comgallan  was  bishop 
in  the  time  of  St.  Patrick.    This  abbey  existed  in  the  year  1301. 

35* 


414 


APFENPiX. 


At  wttUmdL  A  Cistrnfciaa  abbey.  It  ww  enriched  hj  gmnta  ftam 
Kbff  John  and  Kinff  Edward  I. ;  grained,  witii  the  poMessioua,  90  Eliis* 
abeth,  to  Edmond  O'Fallon,  of  Atbloiie. 

At  BariUk,  tbiee  milee  aouth  of  Caatlereagh.  An  abbey ;  nov  % 
Proteatantplapeofwonhip.  ^ 

At  BeoMiMm/.  A  Franciscan  fiiary:  granted,  together  with  the 
poMeMiow,  to  Edmond  C)*Fallon,  of  Athlone,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  ^9 
4«.  7it,  now  worth  £44  U».  8d, 

At  Btf^t,  A  celebrated  Ciiteroian  abb^,  granted,  wUb  all  the 
pioper^,  in  the  year  1009^  to  9ir  John  King* 

At  Qddryww^ht  in  the  barony  of  Boyle.  A  Franciscan  friary ; 
gnoted,  94th  Aogiut,  15^  (p  Bryan  |if cPennot,  ait  the  yearly  n^nt  or 
9».  id.y  now  worth  £94. 

At  CSonrofton.  A  Franciscan  monastery ;  built,  by  O'Gonor  Roe,  in 
thereignofBemyyin 

At  Cloruhanviu.  An  abbey,  buUt  by  St  P^ck;  granted  to  Lord 
Dfllon.  ^ 

At  Q9vnthu^k»rt^  seren  milea  north-east  of  Roscommon.  A  prioi7« 
fioiinded,  v^  the  early  ages,  by  St.  Faithlec ;  granted,  33  Elizabeth,  to 
Fiyal  O'Fanrell,  for  twenty-one  years,  at  the  rent  of  £11  9«.  Sd,t  now 
worth  £999  139.  4d. 

At  dfemmi^.  A  miHiasteiy,  founded  by  St.  Patrick ;  it  e»|rtie4  in 
the  twelfUi  oentory ;  now  a  Protestant  pdace  of  worship. 

At  Clwunemum,    An  abb^  existed  in  the  eleventh  centnry. 

At  Edarthimn,  An  abbey,  founded  by  St  Piradias,  brother  to  St 
Canoe,  who  flourished  in  the  year  499 ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of 
wtnihi|^ 

At  ElpMn,  A  church,  founded,  by  St  Patrick,  for  St  Assicus* 
Tim  house  and  possessions  were  granted  to  Terence  O'Bime. 

At  Fidhardf  in  South  Connaught  An  abbejr,  built  by  St  Patrick 
for  St  Joetis  j  now  a  Protestant  pliiee  of  worwip. 

At  kichmaenerinj  an  island  in  Loughkee.  A  mooastmy ;  grantedi 
with  the  extensive  possessions  in  lands  and  titbeoi,  98  ^liaapeth,  to 
WiUiam  Taaffe,  who  assigned  them  to  Thomas  Spring. 

At  hukmon,  an  island  in  lioughkee.  A  Ffioxy  of  canons,  built  as 
peoj^e  thinb;  by  ^  liberius,  whnse  memory  i^  held  in  much  honor  on 
the  island,  even  to  this  day;  granted,  9  Elizabeth,  to  Lord  Delvin^ 
for  twenty-one  years,  at  £6  14^  8d,  rent  now  worth  £134  139.  4d. 

At  gSmok^,  An  abbey,  buflt  by  St  Qlcan ;  now  a  Protestant  place 
of  wordiip. 

At  ExUaraf^ht.  A  nunnery,  built  by  St  Patrick,  for  St  Athracta. 
At  the  inquisition  held  10th  August,  33  Elizabeth,  the  abbess  of  this 
house  was  seized  of  diree  carucates  of  land  near  the  water  of  Lor?- 
betta,  two  to  the  north  of  the  waters,  and  one  on  the  west ;  the  whole 
valued  at  S9.,  besides  reprises.  Granted  tP  Terence  O'Bime,  who 
assigned  it  to  the  Earl  of  Clanrickard. 

At  BaUuckint  four  miles  north  of  Elphin.  A  nunnery,  where  St 
Loaeohaixili  is  honcved ;  she  was  \»om  Def<N:e  the  year  €37 ;  now  a 
Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At. JSfanerv.    An  abbey,  built  by  St  Patrick ;  now  Protestantized. 

A  primy,  built  by  Con.  O'Flanagau,  and  ppusjecrated  by  Donogh 


'^: 


.•'.'.■'•'-v 


^.^^■ 


m- 


APPENDIX. 


4|# 


thn 
in 

jn 

3t 
Pf 

]0. 

to 

w 
•n 


'», 


O'CoDor,  bidbop  of  Elphin.  i    the  rear  1233 ;  grj&nteci,  in  tl^e  year  1580^  ■, 
for  twenty-one  yean,  to  Tyren  OTwrel ;  rent  £9  lOt^  now  worth  £70  i 
granted  ulerwards  to  Sir  Patrick  Bunwall.  ^ 

At  MSUonuf.    A  monastery,  founded  before  the  year  76Q. 

At  KiUulUitfh,    A  Franciican  firiaiy,  founded  about  the  vear  1441. 

At  MOMckmcar.  A  monaateiy  of  jDominieana,  founded  four  n4lef 
east  of  the  town ,'  granted,  26  £lizahe*Ji,  together  with  the  Abbet  or 
Tocmonia,  Clonemeaghan,  and  Court,  in  the  county  of  Sligo,  to  Uchard 
Kfindlemarch. 

At  LougMcw.  In  this  lake  is  Trinity  Ialand,where  atood  «  monas- 
tery, dedicated  to  the  Holy  Trinity,  in  the  |ear  700 ;  rebuilt,  in  191S, 
by  Clams  McMovlon,  Archdeacon  of  Elplim ;  granted,  10th  August, 
'Sb  Elkabeth,  with  all  the  possessions,  to  Robert  Harrison,  forerer,  in 
free  socage,  at  £26  13*.  8c{.,  now  worth  £503  13f.  4^ 

At  Li^difft,  A  pricKTV  in  0'Cocor*ti  county ;  granted  to  the  provost 
and  fellows  of  Trinity  doUege,  Dublin. 

At  Moniutreoan.    A  monastery. 

At  Orauy  five  miles  west  of  {loscommon.  A  monastery,  built  by 
St  Patrick ;  continues  a  remarlnble  place  for  pilgrimage ;  m^w  thf 
Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Randowfif  seven  miles  north  of  Athlone.  A  priory  of  Hospitalenf^ 
or  Cross-bearers,  built  in  the  reign  of  King  John.  Pml  Nangle  was  a 
great  benefactor  in  the  reign  of  Henry  IlL  This  town  died  away,  a* 
well  as  the  castle. 

A  prioiy,  founded  by  Clams,  Archdeacon  of  fflphio. 

Bo»efm,num^  a  town  that  has  acquired  much  respectability  froQI  itp 
monastic  edifices. 

An  abbey  of  regular  canons,  founded  by  St  Coemon,  discijde  of  ^ 
Finian.  This  house  was  granted,  20  Elizabeth,  with. the  appurte- 
nances, to  Sir  Nicholas  MaUeye ;  rent  £30  5*.  lOd,  now  wortn  £605 
18*.  4</. 

A  Dominican  friary,  founded  in  the  year  1253 ;  granted,  with  all  th« 
possessions,  29th  January,  1615,  to  Francis,  Viscount  Valentia* 

At  Teaghnaninfthitan.  A  religious  house  in  Connanght,  where  thi? 
seven  daughters  of  Fergus  are  honored. 

At  Tibohin.  A  church,  and  formerly  a  great  school,  but  now  a 
Protestant  place  of  worship. 

*     At  TohcrtUy^  in  the  plain  of  Roscommon.    A  Franciscan  cell ;  it 
possessed  some  lands  of  the  value  of  13*.  4<{.,  now  worth  £13  6«.  8<i. 

At  Totmonia.  A  Franciscan  monastery,  founded  by  O'Connor; 
granted,  with  all  the  lands,  30  Elizabeth,  for  twenty-one  years,  to  Rich- 
ard Kyndelinshe,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £2  17«.  2^(2.,  now  worth  £57 
49.  2(/. 

At  Ttdak.  A  Dominican  monastery,  built,  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
by  McDuill.  It  fell  under  the  inquisition  which  was  held  33  Elizabeth. 


SLIGO  (Couittt). 

At  Achonry^  a  small  village  and  Episcopal  3ee.    An  abb^. 

At  tMeraSj  or  KUnuUin,    A  priory,  founded,  in  the  year  1280,  by  the 


416 


APPENDIX. 


CDonaldB.    By  the  inquisition  this  house  was  found  to  possess  landii 
to  the  value  of  £16  8».  4d,  now  worth  £308  6t.  8d.  > 

At  Ardnary.  A  monastery  fbr  Eremites,  following  the  ryle  of 
Augustine,  built  in  the  year  1437. 

At  Alhmou,  A  Premonstratensian  monastery,  fottnded,  by  Clarus 
McMaylin,  Archdeacon  of  Elphin,  in  the  year  1251  ;  possessions  were 
granted  to  Robert  Harrison,  who  assigned  them  to  William  Croflon. 

At  BaUingdotcny  in  the  barony  of  Tirerril.  The  family  of  McDonogh 
founded  a  monastery  in  1437,  for  the  nuns  of  the  order  of  St.  Doni!%, 
inic.     Elizabeth's  inquisition  valued  the  possessions  at  6».  8d.  per 
annum,  English  money,  now  worth  annually  £6  13v.  id. ;  granted  to ' 
Francis  Croflon. 

At  BaUinUy,  in  the  barony  of  Tyreragh,  are  the  ruins  of  an  abbey, 
of  which  nothing  is  known. 

'  At  BaUymote^  in  the  baronv  of  Goran.  A  monastery,  founded,  by 
one  of  the  McDonoghs,  for  Franciscan  friars ;  granted  to  Sir  Henry 
Broncard,  who  assigned  it  to  Sir  William  Taafe,  knight 

At  Bcdlysadare,  in  the  barony  of  Tirerril.  A  monastery,  founded  by 
St  Fecban,  and  richly  endowed.  Elizabeth's  inquisition  found  it  pos- 
sessed of  Ittnids,  tenements,  and  tithes,  to  the  annual  value  then  of  £3 
yearly ;  value  at  this  day  £30. 

At  JSennadOf  a  barony  of  Leyney.  A  friary  of  Crenites,  founded, 
in  1433,  through  the  industry  of  a  brother  of  the  order,  called  Charles. 
No  value  stated. 

At  Bik.  An  abbey,  founded  by  St  Fechin,  and  now  the  parish 
church. 

At  Clonymec^han.  A  monastery,  founded,  1488,  for  Dominican 
friars ;  valued  at  13«.  4d.,  worth  now  £13  69.  8d.  yearly ;  granted  to 
Richard  Kyndelinshe. 

At  Courtf  barony  of  Leyney.  A  small  monastery,  built,  by  O'Hara, 
for  Franciscan  friars ;  valued  at  £1  6s.  8d.  annually,  worth  now  £36 
139.  Ad.  a  year ;  granted  to  Richard  Kyndelinshe. 

At  Drumdiffe.  A  celebrated  monastery,  founded,  by  St  Columba, 
in  590 ;  parish  church  built  on  part  of  its  foundation.  « 

At  Drumcollumb.  A  church  of  St  Columb  and  St  Finbar ;  now 
the  parish  church. 

At  Drumratt.  An  abbey,  founded  by  St  Fechin ;  now  the  parish 
church. 

At  Echenach.  A  church,  built  by  St.  Maveus;  now  the  .parish 
church. 

At  ExUaraght.  A  nunnery,  built  by  St.  Patrick;  now  the  parish 
church. 

At  Kilnemauagk.  An  abbey,  founded  by  St  Fechin ;  granted  to 
Richard,  Earl  of  Clamickard  ;  now  the  parish  church. 

At  Knockmon.  A  friary,  erected  in  the  fourteenth  century,  by 
O'Gara. 

At  Sligo.    A  monastery,  founded,  1353,  for  Dominican  friars,  by 
Maurice  Fitzgerald ;  granted  to  Sir  William  Taafe.     This  place 
de||0ribed  as  having  been  very  spacious  and  beautiful. 


!* 


*«; 


IS 


APPENDIX. 


417 


■# 


TIPPERARY  (CouwTT). 

At  .4h(/^nan,  on  the  River  Suire,  in  the  barony  of  Ofik  and  JSt'i* 
An  abb«v  and  friary,  in  ruins ;  built,  1184,  by  John,  Earl  of  Morton. 

An  abbey  of  regular  canons,  founded,  hy  St  Finian,  in  903. 

A  friary  for  Conventional  Franciscans. 

At  JHntuaeUf  in  the  barony  of  Clanwilliam,  William  de  Burgo  found- 
ed a  priory  for  the  regular  canons  of  the  order  of  St.  Augustine  {  with  its 
lands  and  tithea,  valued,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  at  £141  14«.  3^., 
or,  of  present  money,  £2834  3i.  id.  annually.  It  was  reduced  very 
much,  and,  in  tSie  reign  of  Philip  and  Marv,  let  to  the  Earl  of  Ormond. 
EHizabeth  granted  it  in  fee  to  the  same  nobleman.  One  of  the  largest 
and  richest  abbeys  in  the  kingdom. 
^  At  CoAiV,  in  the  barony  of  Otfa  and  lifa,  GeoiTry,  of  Camvill,  found- 

ed a  priory  for  Augustine  canons ;  leased,  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  to- 
Peter  Sherlock,  for  £34  11*.  6d.  per  annum. 

At  Carrickf  William  de  Cantell,  and  Dionisia,  his  wife,  founded 
a  priory  for  the  canons  of  St  Augustine;  granted  to  the  Earl  of 
Ormond. 

At  Cashd.  A  hospital  for  the  poor,  wiU  fourteen  beds  and  chap- 
lains, was  founded  by  Sir  David  le  Latimer ;  it  was  endowed  by  two 
fucceedin^  bishops.^ 

A  Dommican  friary,  founded  in  the  year  1343,  by  David  McKelly, 
Archbishop  of  Cashel ;  granted,  35  Henry  VIII.,  with  the  appurte- 
nances, to  Walter  Fleming,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  3».  6d.,  now  worth 
£3  109. 

Hore  Abbey,  or  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  of  the  rock  of  Cashel,  founded  by 
the  Benedictines,  but  given,  in  the  course  of  time,  to  the  Cistercian 
monks.  This  really  splendid  edifice  was  richly  endowed ;  granted  to 
Thomas  Sinclair,  43  Elizabeth,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  3*.,  now  worth  £3. 

Hacket's  Abbey,  belonging  to  the  Franciscans.    T'  e  house  and  its 

Jossessions  were  valued,  when  surrendered  by  the  last  prior,  at  £3 
Os.  fid. ;  granted,  30  Henry  VIII.,  forever,  to  Edmund  Butler,  Arch^ 
bishop  of  Cashel,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  39.  lOc^.,  now  worth  £2  16«.  8d. 

At  Clonatd.  A  hospital  of  Hospitalers,  founded  before  the  thirteenth 
century. 

At  Clonmell.    A  Dominican  friary,  founded  in  the  year  13^. 

A  Franciscan  friary,  built,  in  the  year  1369,  by  Otho  de  Grandison. 
There  was  a  miraculous  ima^e  of  St  Francis.  This  splendid  house, 
and  all  its  extensive  possessions,,  were  granted,  34  Henry  VIII.,  to 
James,  Earl  of  Ormoiid,  and  to  the  commonalty  of  Clonmell. 
'  At  Donaghmore,  in  the  barony  of  Offa  and  IfTa.  There  was  an 
abbey  by  St.  Farannan ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

At  Emly,  an  ancient  and  celebrated  archiepiscopal  city,  in  the  coun- 
ty of  Tipperary. 

A  monastery,  founded  by  St  Ailbe,  who  was  styled  a  second  St 
Patrick ;  he  died  in  the  year  537,  and  was  interred  here. 
^  M  At  Fetherd.  An  Augustine  monastery.  By  an  inquisition  of  31 
Henry  VIII.,  this  hbuse  had  possessions  to  the  amount  of  £7  139.  4d.t 
now  worth  £153  6».  8rf. ;  grranted  to  St.  Edmund  Butler,  at  the  yearly 
rent  of  59.  id.,  now  worth  £5  Gs.  SM 


418 


AVPHfiDlX. 


At  fhhf  Cro$i.  A  Cistercian  moiiMtcry,  bnilt  by  Donogh  O'BPien, 
King  of  Limerick.  Thii  wm  a  lumptaoua  house,  and  wii«  very  richly 
•ndowed  ia  landi  and  other  (eneinonta;  granted,  5  filixabeth|  with  \\l 
th^  appurtcnanoea,  to  Qcrald,  Earl  of  Ormond,  at  the  yearly  rent  of 
£15  idt.  id,,  now  worth  £310  6i.  Qd, 

At  Iniahunagh,  in  the  bkrony  of  Ofl&i  and  Iflk,  on  the  Sair.  \  n 
abbeyt  fbunded  by  St  Mochoemae,  who  died  on  the  Llth  March,  6f>o ; 
he  waa  aacceedeo  by  Coni^nj  about  the  year  1153,  who  aapplipH  St 
Bernard  with  matirials  for  writing  ^e  Life  of  Bt  If^JMhy.  Doi<  ^d 
O'Brien,  King  of  ILiiineriok,  rebuilt  this  monaatory  in  1187,  and  endowed 
it,  with  the  aaaistance  of  Malachy  O'Foelan,  Prince  of  the  Decias ; 
granted,  33  Elisabeth,  to  Edward  Geogh;  rent  £34,  now  worth 
£480.  There  is  a  holy  well,  which  is  fVequented  by  people  ftom  all 
quarters. 

At  KiUomn.  A  Benedictine  priory  ^ciM  ded,  by  Philip  of  Worcea* 
tor,  chief  governor  of  Ireland,  in  t^'}  .  er(  i  '84.  lie  supplied  it  ffitti 
friars  firom  the  Abbey  of  Gloatop^  ^rj . 

At  KUcooly.  A  Cistercian  a^bc  ,  bu.li,  by  L^onogh  Carbmgh  O'Brieii, 
fan  the  year  1200;  it  had  '  "ctonj  /c  >  isedsions;  granted,  31  Henry 
VlUn  to  Thomas,  Ear'  of  I    ; ,  ^nd. 

At  JSIsipre,  iii  Upp^f  '  iond.  An  abbey,  founded  in  the  year 
SIC ;  now*  A  Protestnnt  placo  of  worship.  ^ 

At  KUlmmaUafrh,  A  Franciscan  friary,  built  in  the  time  of  Heniy 
Vt, ;  grantitd,  8r>  Henry  VIH.,  with  the  possessions,  to  Dermot  Ryan; 
rent  4iaL,  Irish,  now  worth  6».6d.  ^ 

At  Lorrahy  a  small  village  in  Lower  Ormond,  near  the  Shannon. 
An  ab))Qy,  founded  by  St.  Huadan,  who  presided  over  one  hundred  and 
fifty  monks,  and  died  in  the  year  584.  Turgesiiis  and  his  Norwegians 
burnt  and  destroyed  thia  town,  with  all  tlic  religious  houses,  in  the 
year  845.    This  is  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

A  Dominican  friary,  founded  in  the  year  1269,  by  Walter  de  Burgo, 
King  of  Ulster. 

At  MmainehOj  situated  almost  in  the  centre  of  the  great  boff  of 
Monela,  three  miles  south-east  of  Roscrea.  A  monastery  of  Culdean 
monks ;  the  house  and  revenues  were  granted,  28  Elizabeth,  to  Sir 
Lucas  Dillon. 

At  Mmfiaghf  two  miles  west  of  Carrick.  A  nunnery,  under  the  invo- 
cation of*St  Brigid ;  granted  to  Sir  Henry  Radcliff. 

At  Mnagh,  A  hospital  for  Augustines,  who  were  to  attend  con- 
stantly the  sick  and  infirm;  it  was  endowed  by  Theobald  Walter. 
Though  the  possessions  of  this  house  were  immense,  tikey  were  granted, 
together  with  the  house  itself,  5  Elizabeth,  to  01i\  er  Grace,  for  the 
rent  of      »      ,  lOrf.,  now  worth  £780  16s.  8d. 

A  Frrnvi?r  n'»  "'^ary,  bu:"''  "  i  the  reign  of  Henry  HI.,  by  the  Butler 
family  •  "^  -^v  -jO  Elizabeth,  to  Robert  Collum,  at  the  yearly  rent  of 
£SS2  lutf.  oa.,  now  wortli  £457  13«.  id. 

At  Itoacrea.    A  magnificent  monastery,  built  by  St.  Cronan.  j 

A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1400,  by  Mulruany  na 
Feasoige  O'Carroll,  or  by  his  wife,  Bibiana.  A  ninquisition  was  held 
27th  December,  1568 ;  tms  house,  and  the  possessions,  were  granted  to 
tiie  E^l  of  Ormond,  v^o  assigned  the  same  to  Willuun  Crow. 


^     ■* 


('•ft 


APPSNOIX. 


«l» 


% 


* 


^f 


At  Liekin,  in  t)it  barony  of  Corkerry,  An  »bb«T,  built  by  St  Cm- 
min,  who  dlod  in  tb«  year  604 1  now  a  narUi  ohnrch. 

At  m/mt  in  the  barony  of  Delvia.  An  abbay,  fooadod  in  tha  aarly 
agM  I  now  »  Protaatant  place  dT  wonhip. 

At  MutUngmrt  an  aooiem  town.  A  prioiy,  called  the  Honaa  of  Ckid 
of  MulHnmr ;  fouiMivd,  for  elkionB,  in  the  year  190*,  by  lUlnh  Petyt, 
Biehop  orMeftth,  who  (Ue4  in  the  year  XWj  thie  hooie,  wiUi  all  the 

EeeMdona,  wu  vrantMl,  34  E^^abet)^  to  Richard  Tuyte  \  rant,  £16 
.  lOit,  now  worth  SM5  I6r.  8u. 

A  Doininioaii  <Viary,  founded,  by  the  fkmily  of  Nugaat,  in  the  year 
1'^ ;  (pmnted,  "^  Bliaabeth,  to  Walter  Hope }  tent  llO,  now  worth 
£900. 

A  FranctHcan  fKary,  built  ib«  year  IQSM,  by  the  firiara ;  iilifO  tho 
Tiimba  building  ainonij^t  the  wot    ft. 

At  MHiti/kmam,  A  monuHtor)  built,  in  the  year  13R5,  by  William 
Dolamar,  for  the  Franc  JHuaM ;  gnit  ud,  with  thu  uoascHitionB,  8  Henry 
Vin.,  k»  Edtiiond  Field,  PiiurKk  Ciy     h,  «rd  Pbihp  T  loncy,  for  a  ftno 


4«.,  that  iM,  £4  of 
tkemielvwi 


1 


"I- 


now  a  ehapel 
A  monaatery,  bnilt  by  St 
for  forty  yearn,  over  eighi 

•lilt  by  St.  Batben }  atood  until 

by  St  Cera,  of  Muakerrv ;  but 

resign  the  nouae  to  St  Telliua, 

lative  country,  in  the  year  57(1^ 

St  Fechin,  of  Fore;  riow  a 

ted  licenae  to  Edrnond  do 


of  £80,  worth  now  £1600,  tog.  iher  »    h  tho  rent 
the  prosont  money.    It  appear    hat    lie  frlara 
again  of  thie  hooie  until  *no  ye<     1041. 

At  Balhttffh.     A  moon  u>ry  b.    ^r   A 
\    At  Rathjfne,  six  miiea  <  out  of  A.  a'  > 
t^arthag,  or  Mochuda,  where  bn  p 
kundr'i  and  sixtu-seven  monks,  tehi 
frort%  poor,  bjf  tabor. 

A\  Teaghbaoithen,    A  monuMti 
the  thirfnoiith  century. 

At  'j^mghitUt,  Monastery,  buUi 
being  n  oomnended  by  St.  Munnu  t 
ah^  aid,  and  then  returned  home  to  1> 

At  Tippert.    A  monastery,  built 
chapel. 

*     At  Tohfr.    Pope  Innocent  VIII.       m 
Lantu  Laici  to  build  a  inonastery  her    lor  Doroinicani ;  granted,  31 
Elizabeth,  *o  Henry  Matthews. 

''"■  At  Trisicmagh,  on  the  banks  of  Louir  <  Iron.  A  priory,  founded,  by 
GeoflTry  dc  Constantino,  an  English  emi4^''«ot,  about  the  year  1900  { 
ffranted,  for  twenty-one  years,  to  Captam  W^illiam  Fieri,  31  Henry 
VIII.,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £60,  now  wortli  £120. 

ft:     . 

WEXFORD  (County). 

At  Aehadhabhla.    A  monastery,  founded  by  St  Finian,  of  Clonard. 

At  Mrdnt  ^Joemhain.  A  monostorv,  by  St  Coemen,  brother  of  St 
Daffan,  who  died,  in  the  year  G!)'.),  abbot  here. 

At  BaUyhark.    A  commander/,  subordinate  to  that  of  Kilcoffhan. 

At  Begery,  or  Little  Island,  an  island  north  of  Wexford  Haroor.  A 
celebrated  monastery,  and  a  school,  founded  by  St  Ibor,  or  Ivor,  who 
died  in  the  yen  r  500. 

At  Camros.  An  abbcv,  built  by.  St  Abban,  who  died  in  the  year 
640 ;  and  the  Abb'pt  St  Mos^rc  died  in  the  year  6501 


434 


APPENDIX. 


At  Carruore.  A  monastery,  built,  by  St.  Domangort,  of  Ossorv,  at 
the  foot  of  a  high  hill  that  overhangs  tlie  Irish  Channel ;  now  a  Prot- 
estant place  of  worship. 

At  Clonmnes.    An  Augiistine  monastery,  founded,  by  the  family  of 
Kavanagh,  before  the  year  1385 ;  granted,  with  the  possessions,  35 
^  Henry  VIII.,  to  John  Parker ;  rent  2*.  6rf.,  now  worth  £2  10». 

At  Darinis,  an  island -near  the  town  of  Wexford.    A  monastery, 
built  by  St.  Nemhan,  whose  feast  falls  on  8th  March ;  St  Gobban  and 
^.^*    St  Caiman  were  abbots  here  before  the  year  540. 

At  Dounit  six  miles  from  Inniscorthy.    A  monastery,  built  before 
the  arrival  of  the  English,  and  continued  until  it  was  granted,  in  1637, 
*      to  the  Ijord  Baltimore. 

At  Druim  Chaoiiu  An  abbey,  founded  by  St  Abban,  who  died  in 
the  year  650. 

At  Dunbnddj/j  four  miles  south  of  Ross.  An  abbey,  founded 
through  the  bounty  of  Harvey  de  Monte  Maurisco,  seneschal  to  the 
Earl  of  Pembroke.  The  earl  himself,  and  his  son  Walter,  were  bene- 
factors ;  by  an  inquisition,  held  37  Henry  VIII.,  the  possessions  were 
valued  at  £25  4s.  8{/.,  now  worth  £504  3a.  Ad. ;  granted  to  Osborne 
Itchin^ham ;  rent  £3  lOs.  6d.,  now  worth  £70  10«. 

At  Inniacorthyy  a  borough  town.  A  cell  to  the  abbey  of  St  Thomas, 
in  Dublin ;  founded  and  richly  endowed,  for  the  salvation  of  his  own 
and  the  souls  of  his  wife,  father,  and  mother,  by  Gerald  de  Prendergast 
ubout  the  year  1225 ;  granted,  in  the  year  1581,  to  Edward  Spenser ; 
rent  £13  5s.,  now  worth  £26.^ 

A  Franciscan  friary,  founded,  in  the  year  1460,  by  Donald  Kava- 
nagh ;  granted,  37  Elizabeth,  to  Sir  Henry  Wallop,  for  a  knight's  ser- 
vice, and  rent  £10  16s.  id.,  now  worth  £216  68.  8a. 

Ferns.  Abbey,  founded  on  land  given  by  Brandub,  King  of  Lein- 
'  Bter,  to  St  Moadhog,  called  also  Aidan  ;  it  continued  a  celfibrated  house 
until  the  general  suppression.  In  1166,  Dermot  McMeerchad,  King 
of  Leinster,  burnt  the  town,  and  in  atonement  to  God  for  this  sin,  he 
founded  an  Augustine  abbey  here,  and  richly  endowed  the  same; 
granted,  with  all  the  possessions,  26  Elizabeth,  for  sixty  years,  to 
Thomas  Masternson  ;  rent  £16  id.,  now  worth  £320  1«.  6d. 

Glasscarig,  on  the  sea,  six  miles  north  of  Gorey.  Griffin  Cordon, 
Cicilia  Barry,  his  wife,  and  Roboric  Burhe,  her  father,  and  three  other 
persons,  granted  all  their  lands  in  Cousinquilos,  &c.,  for  building  hete 
a  Benedictine  priory.  Two  different  inquisitions,  one  35  Henry  VIII., 
and  the  other  5  Edward  VI.,  found  this  house  in  possession  of  many 
*         lands  and  other  tenements, 

Hoartoum.  Carmelit?  priory,  built,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  by  a 
Mr.  Furlong ;  granted  to  Sir  John  Davis  and  Francis  Talbot. 

Inbhtrdaoile.    Monastery,  built  by  Sir  Dagain,  brother  to  St.  Coem-. 
gene,  who  was  also  Bishop  of  Achad  Dagain,  in  Leinster,  and  died  639. 
'\        n  Kilcleghan,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Suir.     Commandery,  built,  by 
'     ,     O'Moore,  for  the  Templars;  but  on  the  suppression  of  this  order  it  was 
given  to  the  Hospitalers ;  underwent  an  inquisition,  32  Henry  VIII. ; 
granted,  30  Elizabeth,  to  Sir  HenW  Harrington,  for  the  fourtli  part  of 
,      a  knight's  fee,  and  rent  £35  16*.  8rf.,  now  worth  £716  13s.  id. 
^4  Maghere  JMiiidhe.    A  noble  monastery,  founded  by  St  Abban,  who 

i»*"         died  in  the  year  650. 


4- 


w- 


'\\y  '^ 


•Hf 


\ 


'•#p- 


,  at 
rot- 


APPJSNDIX. 


425 


tnd 


»'ir 


■/* 


Cross  friary,  for  the  redemption  of  captives,  was  built  on  a  rising 
ground. 

Monastery  of  St.  Savior,  erected,  for  the  Franciscans,  by  Sir  John 
Devereux,  before  the  year  1300 ;  granted,  30  Elizabeth,  to  the  Earl  of 
Orniond.  The  east  end  of  the  house  is  now  a  Protestant  place  of 
worship. 

Augustine  friary,  built  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III. ;  this  house  had 
some  valuable  possessions,  though  granted,  35  Henry  VIII.,  to  Richard 
Butler,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  17a.  Irish ;  now  worth  £1  8s.  id. 

TirUem,  on  the  Banowbay,  three  miles  north-east  of  Duncannon 
Fort.  William,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  having  been  in  great  danger  on 
sea,  made  a  vow  to  build  an  abbey  on  the  first  spot  where  he  should 
land  in  safety ;  he  put  into  this  bay,  and  religiously  redeemed  his  vow 
by  erecting  a  Cistercian  abbey  for  monks,  whr,  he  brought  from  Tin- 
tern  abbey,  Monmouthshire  ;  he  endowed  it  wi  !i  r.iany  valuable  lands  ; 
he  died  in  1219,  and  King  John  confirmed  his  will.  Though  this  house 
and  possessions  amounted,  according  to  the  inquisition  held  31  Henry 
VIII.,  to  £75  7s.  Sd.,  now  worth  £1517  13*.  id.  they  were  granted 
to  Anthony  Colclough,  at  £26  As.  yearly  rent,  now  worth  £524. 

Wexford,  a  seaport  town,  and  a  borough.  Priory  of  regular  canons. 
It  was  richly  endowed  by  several  noblemen.  There  was  an  inquisition 
held  on  it,  31  Henry  VIIL,  another  1  Edward  VI.,  when  it  was  granted 
forever  to  John  Parker,  for  the  annual  rent  of  15«.  irf.,  now  worth  £15 
\0s. ;  but  a  third  inquisition  was  held,  26  Elizabeth,  when  the  house 
and  possessions  were  found  in  the  hands  of  Philip  Devereux,  of  Wex- 
ford.   This  church  still  remains,  with  a  large  tower  in  the  middle. 

Priory  of  Hospitalers,  founded  by  William  Mareschal,  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke. 

Gray  friary,  or  Franciscan,  founded  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III., 

f  ranted,  35  Henry  VIIL,  to  Paul  Turner  and  James  Devereux ;  rent 
Od.  Irish,  now  worth  16».  8d.  •    ^ 

Hospital  of  lepers,  to  which  Henry  IV.,  in  the  year  1408,  made  a 
grant  of  lands. 


0 


'      WICKLOW  (County). 

ArMow,  formerly  the  residence  of  the  kings  of  Dub-n ;  a  town  then 
of  great  note,  and  adorned  with  a  monastery,  which  Th'  obald  Fitz  Wal- 
ter founded  for  the  Dominicans ;  granted,  35  Henry  VIIL,  to  John 
Travers,  rent  'Us.  2rf.,  now  worth  £2  3«.  id. 

Baili/kinef  six  miles  and  a  half  west  of  Arklow  Abbey,  founded  by 
St.  Keivin,  on  the  site  of  which  a  Mr.  Whaley  built  a  house,  called  the 
Whaley  Abbey.  ^^ 

Baltinglass,  a  borough  town  on  the  River  Slainey.  Cistercian  abbey,^  .j*.^     » 
built,  in  the  year  1148,  by  Dermot  McMurchad  O'Cavanagh,  King  of 
Leinster;  granted,  30  Elizabeth,  to  Sir  Henry  Harrington,  at  £11  19«.     " 
yearly  rent,  now  worth  £239,  though  it  was  worth  double  that  sum. 

Donard.  A  church,  built  by  St  Silvester,  who  came  to  Ireland  with 
St.  Palladius  about  the  year  430 ;  now  a  Protestant  place  of  worship.  *  . 

Glendalogh,  twenty-two  miles  from  Dublin,  and  eleven  north-west      - 
of  Wicklow,  formerly  an  episcopal  see,  and  a  well-inhabited  city,  full 

36  * 


m 


APPENDIX. 


of  relMpotui  edificef.  Ajfi  Abbpy,  foQDde42  iud4  priended  ovier  for  qiapy 
years,  Dy  St  Keivin,  wlio  died  3d  June,  618,  at  uie  ape  of  one  hundred 
§xid  tweqty  yoa^.  On  the  3d  J^ne,  immense  multitudes  of  pilgrims 
visit  the  seven  churcheis  of  Glend^logh,  to  venerate  St  Keivin,  and  his 
sister,  St  Molibba.  The  seven  p^tirches  are  the  Cathedral  Church, 
St  Kelvin's  Kitchen,  Our  Lady's  Church,  Priory  of  St.  Savior,  the 
|vy  Church,  Teampnl  na  SMligj  ^  Ehepart 

Inisboynet  four  mile?  east  of  Wicklow.    Ap  abbey,  by  St  Baithen. 

KUgorman,  Jjnx  itbbey,  by  St.  Grormap,  nephew  to  St  Patrick ;  now 
fk  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

KiUaird.    A  nunnery,  built  in  the  year  588,  by  St  Tamthinna. 

SnUhair.  An  abbey,  buUt  by  St  Mogoroc,  brother  to  St  Canoe ;  it 
stood  to  the  fourteentb  century. 

fFiekhwt  capital  of  the  county,  and  a  borough.  A  Franciscan 
friary,  founded,  in  the  reign  of  Hennr  III.,  by  the  O'Bymes  and  the 
OTooles ;  gnintt^d,  7  Elizabeth,  to  Henry  Harrington,  lor  twenty-one 
years ;  ren^  ^  l^f-  9d.,  now  worth  &72 15«. 

[The  above  incomplete  list  of  the  Irish  religious  houses,  confiscated 
by  the  reformers^^  was  compiled  by  Cobbett,  from  Archdall  and  others.] 


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